


My Time Comes Around

by pterawaters



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Alternate Season/Series 06, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Battleships, Bystander Death, Drinking, Friends to Lovers, Guns, Investigations, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Making Out, Military, Mind Control, Mystery, Near Death Experiences, Previous Steve/Catherine, Therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-22
Updated: 2015-11-23
Packaged: 2018-04-10 17:14:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 28,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4400432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pterawaters/pseuds/pterawaters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's been a major terrorist attack in California, and the Hawaii-based Five-0 superhero task force is called in to help. What they find on the mainland threatens to tear the task force apart, by force if necessary. Danny and Steve will do everything in their power to keep their family together - and alive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Therapy

**Author's Note:**

> The final chapter is done! This story is now complete!
> 
> Thanks to everyone who read it as a WIP and left encouraging comments. It really helped me keep the momentum on this story and actually finish it!
> 
> Also, at least one commenter wanted to know what all the team's call signs were, so here you go:  
> Danny, aka Impulse/'Ike Ola (Touch-based Empathy and life-force manipulation, a mean right hook)  
> Steve, aka Tiger Shark/Mano (Underwater breathing, enhanced strength and speed)  
> Catherine, aka Ember (Fire manipulation, thermal resistance)  
> Kono, aka 'Io/Hawaiian Hawk (Enhanced agility and strength, flight, Technomancy)  
> Chin Ho, aka Mea Kipa/Traveler (Teleportation, Technomancy)  
> Lori, aka Unseen (Invisibility)  
> Grover, aka Alloy (Metal/stone mimicry, enhanced senses)

"The first day we met?" Steve asks the counselor, giving Danny a look. "It was just after I came back to Hawaii. I was checking out my dad's house, when this guy," Steve chuckles and meets Danny's eyes again. "This guy holds me up at gunpoint. Gunpoint!"

"You were in my crime scene," Danny explains, holding out his hands like there's no way he could be a threat. "I was still in HPD, and I couldn't just let you trample all over the evidence."

Steve laughs and shakes his head. "So little trust."

"We were strangers at the time," Danny insists, but he's more amused with the argument than anything else.

Pointing to himself, Steve says, "Don't I have a trustworthy face?"

With a shrug, Danny replies, "Sure, but so did my ex-wife, and look at how that turned out."

"True," Steve concedes, and Danny thinks the counselor, Dr. Northam, actually looks proud of them.

She breaks into the conversation at that point, saying, "So, back onto recent events. How was Officer Kalakaua's wedding?"

Before Steve can say anything, Danny says, "Well, _Catherine_ showed up." He raises his eyebrows at Steve, who looks put out that Danny tattled on him.

Dr. Northam asks, "Catherine Rollins? Steve, this is the woman you had a long-term romantic relationship with?"

Steve's still giving Danny a dirty look as he nods, and then turns his attention to the counselor. "Yeah."

"How did her reappearance make you feel?"

Steve sits back in his chair and crosses his arms over his chest. Defensive mode. Danny wonders if maybe Steve would be more likely to answer the doctor's question if Danny wasn't here to witness. 

They must be making progress at this therapy thing, though, because Steve actually starts talking. "I don't know, really. I mean, I was happy to see her, but I just … I didn't feel about her the way I used to. I wasn't eager to start things up again."

Danny scoffs. "Yeah, and no wonder, after she ripped your heart out the way she did."

"Detective Williams," Northam says in warning. "This is Steve's time to talk."

Supposing that's true, Danny swallows his pride and mimes zipping his mouth shut.

Leaning forward and looking down at his hands, Steve says, "You know what I think it is? I think when I was with her, I was just so happy to be with someone else, you know, like _us_ ," Steve motions back and forth between himself and Danny, "that I never really took the time to figure out whether we were a good fit as people."

"That makes sense," Dr. Northam tells him with an understanding nod. Turning to Danny, she asks, "Have any of your romantic relationships been with non-civilians?"

"Nope," Danny replies, not sure where she's going with this line of questioning.

"And has it been difficult, keeping your work from affecting those relationships?"

A manic laugh escapes Danny's lips before he can hold it back. "Has my work affected my relationships? Why do you think I'm a thirty-nine year old single father? That was not by choice."

"Do you resent your abilities?"

Danny has to think about that for a moment. He can't imagine being any other way, and yet… "One of them in particular," he says.

Northam looks surprised, but she quickly schools the expression and asks, "Which one?"

Danny feels Steve's eyes on him, but he thinks saying this out loud after so long might actually help him in the long run. "The empathy." Rubbing his face, Danny elaborates, "Do you know how hard it is to pretend everything is fine when you can _feel_ how resentful, and angry, and _sad_ your partner is every time you touch her?"

Steve lets out a loud breath. "Jeez, Danny."

Northam ignores Steve, leaning toward Danny. "Many people would welcome the ability to instantly know what their partner is feeling."

"Ha," Danny says, leaning back and crossing his arms. "That's 'cause no one knows what it's actually like. I mean, it starts out fine. It helps head off arguments. The sex is _fantastic_." Danny gives Northam a cheeky grin, which she ignores. "But when you've been working your ass off, saving lives and not sleeping for like four days straight, and all you want to do is sleep in bed next to your wife, and you _know_ she's more resentful of the time you've been gone than the fact that you're there now? That fucking sucks."

Steve leans over and puts his hand on Danny's elbow, filling Danny with love and sympathy. Danny smiles over at him as he takes his hand away. "Thanks."

Smiling back, Steve says, "No problem, buddy."

Northam practically beams at the two of them. "Well, that ends our time for today. It seems like the two of you are making excellent progress working together. I'm still going to recommend we check back in another six months, or if something happens."

"Something happens?" Steve asks, like it's ludicrous their lives would change at all. 

Danny scoffs. Their lives are anything but boring. "Sounds good. Thanks, Doc."

~*~

As they leave the therapist's office, Steve silently congratulates himself for getting better at controlling his emotions. It seems to be the best way to preserve his working relationship with an empath as sensitive as Danny. Maybe if Rachel had been a little bit better at it, she and Danny wouldn't have divorced.

Then again, if the divorce hadn't happened, Danny wouldn't have moved to Hawaii, and Steve can't deny Danny's presence after Steve's return to Hawaii was one of the best things that had ever happened to Steve.

As they approach the Camaro, Steve notices a figure standing next to it. "Catherine," he calls, approaching her and leaning forward to kiss her cheek. "How did the interview go?"

"Really well," she says, giving Danny a small smile. "I got the job."

"That's fantastic!" Steve says, giving her a quick hug.

Catherine looks sad as Steve pulls away, and for a second, Steve wishes he had Danny's ability to read her true emotions. "Steve," she says, pulling away until only her fingers are touching his, "the job is on the mainland."

"Oh," Steve replies, hanging onto Catherine's fingers a little tighter. What he said to Dr. Northam is true; he's not quite sure if he wants to fully rekindle his relationship with Catherine. That being said, he doesn't want her completely out of his life, either. "Well, I suppose Five-0 kind of has Hawaii covered." 

Steve knows as Commander, he could easily offer Catherine her old position on the team. He could do that and as he stands there, he gets the impression that Catherine is waiting for him to make the offer. He doesn't, though. The team has been working so well together over the last year, without her, and Steve doesn't want to upset that balance.

"Um," Steve says, looking to Danny for help, who holds up his hands, absolving himself of the whole situation. Steve frowns at Danny's lack of helpfulness, and then turns back toward Catherine. "I guess this is goodbye, and good luck."

"Yeah," Catherine says, her eyes shiny. 

Steve hates hurting her like this, but it's for the best, right? Steve looks over at Danny, who nods in encouragement. With renewed resolve, Steve squeezes Catherine's hand again. "I know you're going to come visit sometimes, right?"

Catherine laughs, and it's a wet sound. She brushes a tear from her cheek. "It's a great opportunity."

"Well, there you go," Steve tells her. "There aren't many opportunities for people like us, Catherine. You've got to take it."

Nodding and looking away as she sighs, Catherine drops Steve's hand. The air around her starts to waver with heat, but she gets it under control quickly. "They want me to catch the next flight to the mainland. There's been a lot of chatter and they could really use my help."

Steve holds out his arms and carefully waits for Catherine to initiate the hug. Her skin is much warmer to the touch than it should be, but it's not scalding, so Steve hugs her tightly. "I'll miss you," he whispers, because it's true. Still, he's even more convinced that he's made the right decision. Being with Catherine isn't what he wants, even if it's painful to admit.

"I'll miss you too," Catherine says, ending the hug.

When they separate, Danny is next to them, holding his arms out, his brows high with expectation. With a smile and a little laugh, Catherine hugs Danny.

"Don't singe the clothes, babe," Danny says, squeezing Catherine tightly.

She laughs again, and Steve feels the heat around her dissipate. "Take good care of him, Danny."

As the hug ends, Danny meets Steve's eyes. "You know I will."

Steve can't help but smile when Danny looks at him like that, but he breaks away when Catherine starts backing up. He asks Catherine, "Call me when you're settled?"

Catherine nods. "Okay. See you around, Steve. Danny."

"Bye, Catherine," Danny says, with a smile and a friendly wave.

Steve waves as well, but his hand feels about five times as heavy as it should. "Bye."

Catherine walks away, around the building, and Steve watches her go until he can't see her anymore.

Danny claps Steve on the shoulder (a clothed part of his body, so Steve knows Danny's only getting the very surface emotions, which are probably showing on his face, anyway), and says, "C'mon. I'll take you out for a drink."

Steve scoffs, but heads toward the driver's side of the car. "You know I can't get drunk."

"I've got my ways," Danny says with a wink, ducking down to get into the passenger seat.

Steve follows, and as he closes the car door behind him, he feels like he's exactly where he's supposed to be.


	2. A Night Out

As Danny sets down a fifth set of beers, he places his hand on Steve's forearm, drawing away just enough energy that Steve won't notice. He also gets a big dose of Steve's mixed emotions. Danny's partner is running the emotional gamut tonight, everything from distraught, to relieved, to worried, to his love for Danny. It's not the worst mixture of feelings in the world, and if Danny can give Steve a night to just relax, the emotional toll is worth it.

As he takes the Longboard and downs a sip, Steve says, "Don't think I don't know what you're doing, Danny."

Danny grins and sits down, holding his own beer out for Steve to knock his against. "You want me to stop?"

"Noooooooo," Steve replies, leaning his head against Danny's shoulder. "Is this what normal people feel like when they're drunk?"

Smiling, Danny replies, "I wouldn't know."

Steve cracks up, and the emotions rolling off of him are so positive and so mixed up, that Danny thinks he might be getting a little bit of a buzz. It reminds him of the time he was a beat cop and had to arrest a guy who was high on hallucinogens. This is nicer, though, because of the fondness that's always coming off Steve.

"And it's fine, you know?" Steve says, taking another long drink. "I'm done. She needs to go and I'm just... I'm _done_."

"Yeah, you are," Danny says, taking Steve's beer and finishing it off for him. "You'll be okay, buddy. You always are."

Steve makes a vague noise of assent and turns, putting his intense focus all on Danny. "Does Melissa know you're here?"

Danny sighs. He knew Steve would ask about her eventually. "She found out about me," Danny admits, finishing off his own beer. "About how it's not just healing. Scared her off."

"Didn't like you reading her emotions?" Steve shakes his head sadly. "Well, _I_ don't mind. What am I feeling now?"

Danny laughs and puts his hand over the middle of Steve's face. "Feels like..." Danny gets a flash of emotions, and the fondness is so deep that Danny feels like he could drown in it. Pushing Steve's face away, Danny says, "You're feeling drunk off your ass."

Someone brushes past Danny and he feels _hate_ instead. Turning away from Steve, Danny tries to pinpoint the source of that hate. There's two or three figures it could be, and Danny's suddenly uneasy. _Everyone_ on this island knows he and Steve are Five-0. Not everyone is a fan of that fact. 

Pulling on Steve's arm, Danny says, "C'mon, big guy. It's time to go."

Danny's pretty sure that amorous feeling coming from Steve is directed at the brunette walking the other way. Of course, as Steve puts his arm around Danny's shoulder, he says, "I really love you, man. You can feel that, right?"

Danny brushes past a group of women, accidentally touching one of them and getting a quick flash of joy. God, Danny hates crowds. Why didn't he just bring Steve home with him to get drunk?

"Yeah, Steve," Danny says absently, making it to the exit of the bar. He and Steve burst out into the muggy Honolulu night. "Yeah, I love you too, buddy. Let's get you home."

"Don't want to go home alone," Steve says, getting his feet under him and starting to walk a little straighter. "Catherine's not going to be there."

"I'll take you to my house," Danny says, angling Steve toward where the Camaro is parked down the block. 

Halfway there, Danny hears footsteps running toward them, and fast. He turns, and it's one of the figures from the club, coming up faster than humanly possible. 

Danny drops Steve and pulls out his gun. "Stop right there. Five-0!"

A concussive blast explodes near Danny's head, but it doesn't stop him from firing three shots, center mass. The figure goes down.

Fuck. Danny hates this part. Back when he was a cop and barely anyone knew he had powers, he could just shoot the bad guys and be done with it. Now? Now everyone knows what Danny can do. Every bullet is a responsibility. 

Danny rushes forward and grits his teeth for what he's about to go through. The super is a young-ish woman, her hair tucked in the hood of her sweatshirt. She looks up at him with that same hatred that Danny felt when she passed by him in the bar. 

Pressing his thumb to her forehead, Danny groans at the pain she's in and takes just enough life force to help her pass out. When she does, it's a relief, because it means Danny can't feel her pain anymore either. 

Behind Danny, Steve's on the phone to Chin, which is great. Danny just has to keep this girl alive until Chin can take her to the hospital. Putting his hands on her torso, Danny feels the hot tears where the bullets went into her body. He pushes life-force into those wounds, helping them heal up. The bullet fragments get pushed back through the wounds and out. She starts to breathe more easily, and Danny sags away from her, spent. 

A rustling of air heralds Chin's arrival. "Good evening, Gentlemen."

"Hey...Chin," Danny pants, wiping the sweat off his brow and allowing Steve to help him to his feet. 

Probably mostly sober at this point, Steve says, "This is the second one in a month. Let's get the cuffs on and get her checked out at the hospital. Once she's cleared, I want her in our questioning room. Someone has to be sending them after us."

"I was afraid of that," Chin says. He takes one of the woman's arms in his hand. "Be careful getting home, you two." 

"Yep, you got it," Steve says, waving Chin off as he disappears, the super in hand. Steve turns to Danny now that they're alone. "I'm probably still too drunk to drive."

Running his hands back over his hair, Danny says, "I can do it. My place isn't that far away."

They get into the car and Danny is mostly recovered by the time they get to his house ten minutes later. He's going to need a long sleep and a lot of food in the morning, but it'll be fine. 

Steve follows Danny into the house, watching as Danny sets the alarm system. Danny doesn't want to go all the way back to his bedroom, so he sits on the couch. Steve follows and they kind of slump down together, wrapped around each other. 

Danny pulls a blanket from the back of the couch over them, feeling exhausted but safe. He's halfway to realizing that those are Steve's emotions, when he falls asleep. 

~*~

Steve wakes up feeling like he's been swimming through the sewers, except he doesn't smell anything bad. Mostly he smells Danny. As Steve opens his eyes, he realizes he's sleeping pretty much on top of Danny, on Danny's couch, in Danny's house.

Oh, yeah.

Steve raises his head so he can look at Danny, and a sharp pain lances through his skull. Shit, is he hurt? Steve remembers there being an attack the night before, but Danny handled it. Steve didn't even have to get involved.

Danny stirs, a crease forming between his brows. He sort of flops one of his hands onto Steve's head without looking and the pain fades away. 

Steve can't help but chuckle fondly. He wonders if Danny is still asleep, still helping people while he's unconscious. God, Steve loves Danny so much. Steve's not even sure exactly _how_ he loves Danny, but he knows he hasn't loved anyone this deeply since he was a child. 

All pressed against Danny the way he is, Steve thinks he might love Danny in a way that's not just about friendship. No, scratch that. Steve _definitely_ loves Danny in a way that's not just about friendship.

Danny's voice is thick with sleep as he asks, "So you gonna kiss me, or–"

Jesus, now that he has permission, there's nothing Steve would rather do more. He surges forward, pressing his lips to Danny's. Danny tastes like beer gone bad and fuzzy teeth, but he's warm and wrapping his arms tighter around Steve. 

Steve puts his hand on Danny's cheek as they kiss, each kiss getting more and more frantic. Danny's responding like he wants this just as much as Steve does, and suddenly Steve's wondering about Danny's motives. 

Pulling back and taking a deep breath, Steve meets Danny's eyes. "This isn't just–" He sighs, trying to find the right words. "Danny, I–"

Steve's forearm tingles where Danny's got his hand wrapped around it. "Steve, I know. I mean, I can't read your thoughts, but whoa are your emotions clear on this."

Kissing Danny again and pressing more of his weight down against Danny, Steve asks, "Oh, yeah? What am I feeling?"

"I'm pretty sure," Danny says, grabbing at the back of Steve's neck and kissing him so hard Steve's lip bumps into his teeth, "you want to keep kissing me for a long, long time."

Steve knows Danny can feel more than he's saying, but he doesn't press the issue. As long as Danny knows this isn't a half-drunken mistake, everything's going to be fine. 

Danny shivers whenever Steve licks into his mouth, and groans deeply when he gets his hand under Steve's shirt. Danny's fingertips skate up the skin on Steve's back, his lips curling into a smile. 

Steve smiles back, pressing one more kiss to Danny's lips before wandering a trail along the interesting texture that's Danny's stubble and toward Danny's neck. 

"Fuck, Steve." Danny turns his head to give Steve more room to work. The spot just under Danny's ear makes Danny's hips buck up against Steve's leg.

"Danno," Steve whispers, licking that spot again and sucking on it.

Gasping for breath, Danny says, "Pants, Steven. Pants!"

As he reaches for Danny's fly, a phone starts ringing. It's Steve's phone. "Damn it," he sighs, reaching into his pocket and looking at the caller ID. "It's Kono."

"Shit," Danny says, letting his head fall back against the couch pillows. "Better answer it."

Steve sits up and takes a breath to compose himself. The room spins a little, but he takes the call anyway. "McGarrett."

"Steve, if you're near a TV, turn it on," Kono says, her voice deadly serious.

"The TV?" Steve asks, making eye contact with Danny and gesturing toward the TV facing them. "What channel?"

"Any channel," she replies.

Danny flips on the TV and the first thing Steve sees is a split screen, with a news anchor on one half, and the remains of a bridge on the other half. "–cent Thomas Bridge in Los Angeles has been destroyed at the height of rush hour this morning. Early reports attributed the attack to Muslim extremists, but witnesses at the scene describe the attacker to be a Caucasian male, possibly a super human."

Into the phone, Steve asks, "Do they know who it was?"

Kono sighs. "He fits the description of The Brass Soldier."

"Jesus," Steve says, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his free hand. "I thought he was on our side."

"He was," Kono replies, "until he went AWOL from LA AFB last night. His unit was still trying to track him down when this happened."

Beside Steve, Danny says, "I wonder if this is the chatter Catherine was talking about yesterday."

In his ear, Kono asks, "Is that Danny there with you?"

Steve clears his throat, looking over at Danny, who gives Steve a blank look in return. "Uh, yeah. I'm at Danny's place."

The quality of the static changes and Chin's voice comes over the line like Steve's been put on speaker. "You guys should meet us at Hickam," Chin says as Steve puts his phone on speaker too so Danny can hear. "The governor's loaning us to California so we can help figure out how this happened."

Steve's glad, once again, that he keeps a go bag in the trunk of the Camaro. "Okay. Is Lou there with you guys?"

"Yeah, Steve," says Lou's voice, and that's just great because now everyone on Five-0 knows Steve is over at Danny's place first thing in the morning. "What do you need?"

"I want you to stay and hold the fort," Steve tells him. "Look into that super who attacked me and Danny last night."

"You got it, boss," Lou says, as solid as always. He's probably glad to be able to stay on the island with his family and not have to deal with the five hour flight to LA. 

Steve nods, like Lou's going to see it over the phone. "Alright. Let's go." He hangs up and turns back toward Danny. "So…"

Danny stands up from the couch, saying, "Saved by the bell, huh?"

He starts walking away, so Steve chases after him, saying, "No. Danny, no." Steve grabs Danny to stop him and pulls him into another kiss. As he pulls back, Steve smiles. "Interrupted by the bell."

Smiling, Danny nods and looks down at where his hand is laying on Steve's arm. "Interrupted by the bell. Yeah." He clears his throat. "Yeah, that works."

"C'mon," Steve says, patting Danny's hip. "We've got the world to save."


	3. An Old Friend

The military cargo jet they take to LA technically belongs to Hickam AFB, but unofficially, it's been H50's plane ever since Governor Jameson gave Steve the go-ahead to put together an Oahu-based task force of super humans to protect Hawaii. Steve's in the pilot's seat, keeping an eye on things as they cruise over the Pacific.

An hour into the flight, Danny comes and sits in the co-pilot's chair, a sandwich in his hand. "Hey, babe. How's it going?"

"Fine," Steve replies, eyeing Danny's sandwich. "Isn't that the fourth one you've eaten?"

"Sixth," Danny replies with a shrug, taking a big bite. He's still chewing as he says, "It's either food calories or I start draining everyone on this plane so I don't go into a coma."

"True," Steve concedes. "Thank God you're not a doctor. More than one patient a day and you'd eat Hawaii completely out of Spam."

Danny points a finger at Steve, his face unamused. "Hey, I would die before I ate more than one slice of Spam in an entire month. Do you know how much salt is in that stuff?"

Chuckling, Steve turns his attention back to flying the plane.

A minute later, Danny shoves the last bite of the sandwich into his mouth and crumples up the paper wrapper. He stands and steadies himself with a hand on Steve's shoulder. Instead of moving back toward the others, Danny stops short.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What's that about?"

Confused, Steve looks up at Danny. "What?"

Danny crouches down and asks in a soft voice, "What's wrong?"

Steve shakes his head, but he knows there's no hiding this from Danny for long. Not that Steve really wants to hide anything from Danny, but wanting to have a conversation and knowing how to have that conversation are two different things.

"I just got a bad feeling about this mission," Steve admits, checking on the fuel level, like it's going to have changed since he last checked it thirty seconds ago. "I used to know the guy. The Bronze Soldier."

"Jeez," Danny says, sitting back down in the copilot's seat and looking out the windshield. "You ever figure he was capable of this?"

"No," Steve replies, shaking his head vehemently. "They called him a soldier, but he wanted to be anything else. Hardly a violent bone in his body."

"Huh." Danny gives Steve a long look. "Well, I can think of a few ways a nonviolent person could be pushed into doing something violent." He raises his eyebrows at Steve.

Chuckling, Steve says, "I doubt there's ever been a day in your life where you haven't felt violent."

Danny lifts up a finger and opens his mouth, but freezes before starting to argue. "Okay, yeah. You might have a point." He drops his hand and shifts in his seat. "My mother tells me I was a little hellion in preschool."

"You still are," Steve says in the calmest voice he can manage.

Danny stands and leans over Steve, like he's trying to be menacing. It makes Steve smile broadly. "Remind me again why I tolerate you?"

Steve looks up at Danny and grins again. This thing between them feels old and brand new, all at the same time, and Steve doesn't want to ruin it, so he just smiles until he can think of the right thing to say. He never quite gets there, because after a quick glance back into the aft of the plane, Danny drops a quick kiss onto Steve's still-smiling lips. 

As he pulls back, Danny clears his throat. "Keep your eyes on the road, McGarrett. Unlike the three of you, I would be very uncomfortable if this plane crashed into the ocean."

Steve licks his lips, not quite tasting Danny on them, and tries to focus on the task at hand. They're still three hours out from LA, with almost nothing to focus on except his thoughts. Steve silently curses Danny and tries to think more about the events in LA, so they can hit the ground running when they get there.

~*~

When the cargo door opens, the first face Danny sees is a familiar one. "Lori! Nobody told me you were going to be here!" The first thing Danny notices is that Lori is wearing some sort of metallic headband, and that she's got several more of them in her hand.

"Hey, big brother," Lori says, opening her arms and letting Danny come to her. She feels more worried than that time Dad had his bypass surgery. "Unfortunately, this situation is all-hands on deck. They called me out from New York late last night." She holds up one of the headbands to Danny and says, "Here, put this on."

Danny takes the headband and watches as Lori hands them to each of the other Five-0 members in turn. "Uh, no offense," he says, "but this isn't really my style."

"Just put it on, Danny," Lori says, practically tapping her foot at him. Just like Mom.

Shrugging, Danny puts on the headband. He hopes it doesn't mess up his hair too bad.

"What are these for?" Steve asks, following Lori away from the plane and into LA AFB. "Wrist or ankle cuffs work better for tracking."

"They're protective," Lori says, opening the door to the base and leading them through it. "There's a super hijacking us somehow. We believe the headband should block that ability."

"Hijacking?" Kono asks. "Is that what happened to The Brass Soldier?"

Lori nods and shows them into a conference room. Danny doesn't want to make a decision over whether or not he should sit next to Steve – he's never been in a relationship with one of his bosses before – so he sits between Lori and Kono. Steve gives Danny a weird look, but ends up sitting across from Danny. Danny thinks having to school his behavior while having no where to look but at Steve and Steve's stupid, beautiful face is probably worse than sitting next to him.

"What do we have?" Steve asks, just as a woman in a uniform enters the room.

She offers her hand to Steve, who stands and takes it, and she says, "Commander McGarrett, thank you for coming. I'm Lieutenant Colonel Coretta Victorson."

"Colonel," Steve replies, giving her a final nod as he drops her hand. "We've been in the air for the past four hours. What have we missed?"

"Well," she says, laying a stack of folders down on the table as she sits. "Like your Five-0 task force in Honolulu, LA has a similar collection of super humans, working out of this base. The Angels, colloquially. They are – _were_ – a team of five." She passes the stack of folders to Steve, who opens the first one.

Steve frowns, closing the first folder and sliding it across the table to Danny as he opens the next. Danny takes a look at the file, finding it's about The Brass Soldier, or as his parents knew him, Andrew Hoffmann.

"The Brass Soldier, Lucky Shot," Steve says, opening all of the folders in turn. "Lynx, Stareye, The Grey Siren." He pushes the files toward Kono and Chin in turn. "What happened to all of them?"

"We're not exactly sure," Victorson says, pointing a remote at the screen on the wall behind her, "but we think they've been brainwashed somehow. This footage shows Stareye leading the others from the base. We're not sure what story Stareye told them, but his body language strikes all of us who knew him as strange."

"Is he capable of mind control?" Chin asks, reaching across the table to take Stareye's file from Kono. Kono snatches it back for a moment before closing it and turning it over to her cousin with a sarcastic smile.

"No," Victorson replies, shaking her head vehemently. "We think the super that's been brainwashing people is a new player on the field. The only super we know of who's capable of something like this is Gustav Harman, but Swiss authorities assure us they've got eyes on him presently, and he's right in his cell, where he's supposed to be."

Danny shivers at the thought of someone like him in prison. Sure, putting super humans in prison is pretty much Danny's job description, but had Danny's mother not taught him to control his power as early as she did, and had Danny not heeded those lessons, it could've easily been him locked up for life. 

"So," Steve says, leaning back and crossing his arms over his chest. His feet bump into Danny's under the table, probably on purpose. "Our job is to track down and neutralize this new player before any more targets are hit."

Victorson nods. "We've done superficial drive-bys of all the Angels' known residences, but I haven't wanted to risk any of my people pursuing the search further. LA Sheriff's department felt the same."

"What about Brass Soldier?" Steve asks, not managing to hide his worry very well, at least from Danny. "Was he lost in the explosion, or…"

The Colonel shakes her head. "We just don't know. We haven't recovered his body among the ones we've fished out of the Channel. He might still be in play. It wouldn't be unlike him to survive a blast of that magnitude."

Danny moves his foot closer to Steve's, but still can't tell whether Steve's more worried or more relieved that Brass Soldier might still be alive. And then Steve asks a question that makes Danny hold his breath. "What about Catherine Rollins?"

"Who?" Victorson asks, halfway through standing from her chair. She looks over to her assistant, who shrugs and shakes his head. Danny lets out his breath and braces for the worst.

"Lieutenant Catherine Rollins, formerly of Five-0. _The Ember_ ," Steve says, getting to his feet. "She just accepted a job working here in LA, I assumed with you. She was supposed to land yesterday evening."

"You haven't heard from her?" Danny asks, which he knows is a stupid question. He's been less than twenty feet from Steve the entire time since Catherine left. He would have noticed if Steve had received a call from her.

Wide-eyed, Steve shakes his head. "I thought maybe she'd text when she landed, but nothing."

Chin lays a hand on Steve's arm. "We'll find her, Steve. I'm sure she's fine."

Frowning, Victorson asks, "How dangerous could she be if she's not fine?"

Danny looks around the room at his team mates, and he knows they're all thinking of the same incident in Waimanalo two years ago. Even Lori looks worried, and she only barely met Catherine before she left Hawaii three years ago. Danny answers for the rest of them. "Very."


	4. Investigation

Chin notices his cousin staring out the windshield of their borrowed car, her eyes about a thousand yards further than any of the cars surrounding them. They’re stuck in LA traffic, which is stupid, because Chin’s seen the satellite images of Lynx’s residence. He could ‘port there in no time. Kono could fly there almost as fast, if she didn’t want to catch a ride with him – Chin knows his preferred method of transportation can be disorienting, even when you’re used to it.

However, if he did that, he’d be leaving the car at best on the side of the road (and at worst in the middle of traffic). Add onto that the fact that ‘porting around an unfamiliar city will take more energy than Chin has to spare, and driving it is. Usually, Chin doesn’t mind driving. Usually, Chin has his own car and sirens to help part the seas, so to speak.

Kono’s silence starts to bother Chin, so he asks, “Worried about Catherine?”

Turning toward Chin with a start, Kono asks, “Hmm?” Within a moment, she processes Chin’s question and replies, “Oh. Yeah, I am. Her, and Steve.” She starts to brush her hand back through her hair, but she stops when her fingers get to the headband.

"We'll find her," Chin assures Kono. He lets his car creep forward. "Sooner or later."

"Yeah, it's the later part I'm worried about." Kono shifts in her seat, bringing up one leg and resting her outstretched arm on that knee. "We both know how much damage Catherine can do when she puts her mind to it."

"Yeah," Chin says with a sigh. "Yeah, we do."

Eventually they make it to the Lynx's house, and everything looks normal from the front. When Chin walks the perimeter of the house, he finds a different story out back. "I've got a shattered glass door back here," he tells Kono over the comm link. "Be careful."

"House is clear," Kono replies, approaching the broken door from the inside. "Major signs of a struggle, though."

Chin 'ports past the glass shards and into the house. "We saw all the Angels leave the base together, peacefully. Why would they fight?" he asks, looking at the splintered furniture and the spatter of blood on one of the white walls. A few drops have landed on a painting of a snow-covered valley, ruining it. "No bodies?"

"No," Kono says, picking up a date book and flipping through it. "This looks like an all-super fight. Lots of property damage, just a little blood, means no one's breaking skin. That doesn't happen when normal people fight." Chin notices that Kono's hovering a fraction of an inch off the ground. It always happens when she gets excited about something, and of course she would be excited about the mystery of what went on here. He smiles. 

"Hey, 'Io," he says, getting Kono's attention. "Save your energy, huh?" Chin raises his eyebrows and gives a short chuckle.

Kono rolls her eyes, but smiles as she drops back to the ground. Her expression turns and she takes a few steps across the room. She picks up a cell phone, shaking off a few shards of broken glass and turning it on. "Damn. We're going to have to crack it."

Chin scoffs and gestures for Kono to hand the phone to him. After he's got it in his hand, it's fairly simple for him to just _push_ on the phone a little until it flips past the lock screen. He holds it out toward Kono with a smile. "There you go, cuz."

"Thanks," she says sarcastically, taking the phone from him and poking at it while Chin notices a bright piece of plastic that seems out of place. 

He picks it up, and it reminds him of something, but he can't quite place what. It's red and only slightly flexible, but not brittle. Oh! It reminds him of the plastic guards on his football pads when he played in high school. 

Curious, Chin takes out his own phone and calls Danny. "Hey, you still have the files in front of you?"

"Uh, yeah," Danny says, clearing his throat and shuffling papers. 

He sounds weird, so Chin asks, "Am I interrupting something?"

"No, nothing," Danny replies, a little too quickly. "I got the files. What do you want me to look for?"

"Do any of the LA AFB crew wear red? Specifically red pads? Like you'd wear for football?"

Danny flips through paper for a moment. "Looks like they all wear tac gear. Blue camos. Oh!"

"Oh, what?"

"Wonder Rider used to wear something like that," Danny says. "When he was a vigilante, before joining the DC task force. He wore a red suit."

"Why is he back in his old suit?" Chin asks, turning the piece of plastic over in his hands. "Why is he on the West Coast?"

"I don't know," Danny says with a sigh. "I'll contact his team in DC and see what they can tell us. It's probably not good, though."

"I'm sure you're right," Chin replies. "What specifically are you worried about?"

Danny pauses for a moment, and then says, "I-I know a little bit about him from when I was in Jersey. You know, news travels around." Danny sighs. "Anyway, before DC scooped him up, he cut a bloody streak through the bad guys of New York. If I'm remembering right, he has over a hundred confirmed kills."

Chin grimaces at the thought. He knows that deadly force is often justified, but that doesn't mean he has to like it. He much prefers the days when the perp goes off in handcuffs over the ones where the perp goes off in a body bag. "So what is a piece of Wonder Rider's old costume doing in Lynx's apartment?"

"Maybe they were role playing?" Danny asks with an amused lilt to his voice.

"Here," Kono says, holding out Lynx's phone. Chin puts Danny on speaker so he can hear Kono's explanation as well. "Lynx texted her address to several numbers. I'm not sure who they belong to, but it won't take long to find out."

"So she texted them her address, presumably after being brain-jacked. Anything to tell us how she got them to come?" Danny asks.

Kono shakes her head. "No. It's just the address. Someone else must've been communicating with them beforehand."

It's Steve's voice over the line next, saying, "Catherine was contacted by phone. I can pull up her phone records, see who she was talking to."

"I can probably do it faster," Kono tells him, worry on her face as she meets Chin's eyes.

"Yeah, okay," Steve says, though he doesn't sound exactly happy about the decision. "Danny and I are almost to Stareye's place. We'll let you know what we find."

After they say their goodbyes and hang up, Chin sees Kono's already on her tablet, sifting through records as easily as blinking.

"Same number," Kono says, looking up. "Catherine has made several phone calls to this number in the past two weeks. One call is even two hours long."

"Must've been the phone interview," Chin says. "Remember how excited she was?"

With a grimace, Kono turns off her tablet. "Whoever this was spent a lot of time and effort luring supers here. And _money_. Last minute plane tickets to the mainland are not cheap."

"If they're spending that much money, even in cash, we'll find them," Chin assures Kono, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Kono pats Chin's hand absently and says, "Yeah, but there's no telling what they'll do before then."

~*~

Danny sighs and shuts the hotel room door behind him. “I can’t believe the only pieces of evidence we found all day was a trashed house and stupid little piece of plastic. Didn't even get a call back from D.C. You'd think they'd want to know where their guy was."

“Yeah, you'd think,” Steve replies, taking off his headband and scrubbing at his hair with his fingers before slipping it back on. Danny wonders if Steve’s headband is as bothersome as Danny’s. “Whoever’s doing this is smart, Danny. They’ve covered their tracks really well.” Steve sits down next to his duffel bag, which he’s left on the hotel bed, like he’s never heard of a suitcase stand.

“Yeah,” Danny agrees, pulling out the desk chair and plopping down into it. His stuff is in his suitcase in the room down at the end of the hall. “I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop.” He frowns and throws his hands out. “Or the next bridge to blow. Whatever.”

Steve groans and throws himself back on the bed, rubbing at his face with his hands. “We need to get some sleep, start fresh in the morning.”

“Yeah,” Danny says, though he’s distracted by the way Steve’s knees are spread. He stands up and goes over to the bed, hoping nothing has changed since that morning. Danny approaches the bed and leans down on it, using one of his arms to support his weight and setting the other hand lightly on Steve’s forearm. “I guess I should go back to my own room, then.”

Steve burns through a flash of disappointment until he opens his eyes and sees Danny’s face, and presumably the smile on it. Steve’s smile is echoed by a bright flare of glorious joy (slightly tempered by exhaustion and a touch of insecure worry), and he pulls Danny close. “Or, you could sleep here. That seemed to work out for us pretty well last night.”

“You were drunk off your ass last night,” Danny says, wondering how this will go now that both of them are sober. 

"But you weren't," Steve replies, shifting so that Danny's mostly on his back and Steve's looking down at him. "And I distinctly remember both of us being sober this morning, when there was more than sleeping going on. Unless…" Steve's doubt feels like being doused with cold water. "Unless you were just doing it to make me feel better."

Danny puts his hand on the side of Steve's face, fingers curling around the back of Steve's neck. "Doofus, I was _not_ just doing it to make you feel better, okay?" Danny doesn't mention the fact that he's been hovering in this low-altitude holding pattern of being almost-in-love with Steve for years. What good would revealing that do? Besides, with Steve, it's easier to be direct and in the moment. He's practically illiterate when it comes to emotions, anyway. "I. Want. This."

Steve's eyes get dark and the flare of lust that passes through him is almost strong enough to take Danny's breath away. "Shit, Danny," he whispers, before moving in and taking Danny's lips in a deep, thorough kiss. 

Danny seizes the opportunity and kisses Steve back, pulling him in as close as physics will allow. They're just getting into a good rhythm, Steve hard against Danny's thigh, when doubt shivers through Steve, making him freeze.

With a groan, Danny says against Steve's lips, "What's the problem, babe?"

Steve leans back, sitting on his heels and licking his lips. Danny feels cold without Steve on top of him. Shaking his head, Steve puts his hand on Danny's knee. Danny wishes he wasn't wearing pants, for both the obvious reason, and because he'd be able to get a better read on what Steve's feeling. 

"What if I'm only doing this because I _just_ broke up with Catherine? What if a week from now I realize this is some sort of weird rebound, and then everything–"

"No," Danny says, cutting Steve off and sliding off the bed so he can stand and be face-to-face with Steve. He points back and forth between the two of them and says, "This _thing_ has been going on for years, Steven. Even if you didn't recognize it until recently."

"Years, huh?" Steve licks his lips and gives a nervous chuckle. He raises an eyebrow. "Years, Danno?"

"Yes, years," Danny insists, reaching out for Steve's wrist. Steve's calmer now, almost amused, which wounds Danny's pride a little bit. He doesn't care too much if it means Steve will get with the program and get back to kissing Danny. "Now, c'mere."

Steve lets Danny kiss him, his hands heavy when he grabs Danny's hips and pulls him closer, so Danny has to lean over the edge of the bed. Steve's fears edge away, replaced by fondness and lust. 

Danny keeps in tune with Steve as he reaches for the hem of Steve's t-shirt, pulling it up over his head. When Danny trails his fingers downward toward the button at Steve's fly, Steve bats Danny's hands away. Danny doesn't feel any fear or anger from Steve, just a slight frustration as Steve attacks the buttons on Danny's shirt. Danny can't help but smile at the intense concentration on Steve's face and allow the assault. 

"Jesus," Steve breathes out when he pushes Danny's shirt from his shoulders, hands lingering on Danny's skin as Danny shakes his shirt the rest of the way off. Steve plucks at Danny's tank-style undershirt. "You should just wear these, all the time."

Danny looks down at his shirt and tries to imagine how that would work out. Shaking his head and pushing Steve back onto the bed, Danny says, "Well, for one, I'd look more like a thug than an officer of the law."

Steve's fingers find their way under Danny's shirt, at the small of his back. "And for two?" Steve asks.

Danny pushes away a little and looks across the room as he answers the question, so he won't be overwhelmed by Steve's response. "For two, that's a bunch more exposed skin for people to accidentally dump their feelings on me."

"Right," Steve says, slipping his fingers away from Danny's skin, worry and uncertainty still coming through loud and clear with the way Danny has his hand on Steve's chest.

For fuck's sake. This is why Danny rarely tells the people he's sleeping with about the empathy. He doesn't know why he thought Steve would be any different. Still, Danny knows Steve, probably better than he knows anyone except his daughter. There's a way through this stumbling block, and Danny's pretty sure he knows what it is. 

His voice low, Danny says, "Get your hands back on me, McGarrett, or I'm going to make you wish you were never born."

If Danny couldn't read the overwhelming lust through his hand on Steve's chest, he could've read it in the sharp intake of breath and the way Steve hips jerk toward Danny. Eager now, and uncoordinated, Steve clutches at Danny's remaining shirt, pulling it off as he says, "God, Danny."

Danny laughs and cooperates with the shirt removal, before moving his hands to his own fly. "You're very predictable," he says, undoing his pants and shoving them down, leaving his underwear on for now. "You know that?"

Steve takes offense to that comment (like Danny knew he would), and pauses in taking off his own pants to pounce back on Danny. He kisses Danny fervently, pressing his chest, and then his hips down and pinning Danny to the bed. The complete connection of all that skin against Danny's overwhelms Danny, making him cry out with how damn good it feels. 

Steve kisses Danny's neck and it feels like a bright sunshine pop of love. Steve grabs at Danny's ass, hand in Danny's boxers and it's a dark tidal wave pull of want. Steve licks Danny's nipple with a broad flat tongue, setting Danny's chest hair, and it's playful curiosity and aching desire. 

Completely, fantastically overloaded, Danny loses his ground in the fight against this feedback loop he and Steve have established. Danny arches his back, bucks his hips against Steve's thigh, and comes in his boxers with a sharp cry.

"Shit," Steve hisses, gasping as he presses his hips down hard, all of his skin sizzling with orgasm as he sucks on Danny's neck, groans, and comes. 

Steve's weight collapses onto Danny and they lay there breathing together for a moment before Steve snorts with amusement. "I'm still wearing my pants."

Danny scratches his fingers up through the hair on the back of Steve's head, running into metal unexpectedly. "We're both still wearing these stupid headbands, too."

Rolling away onto his back, Steve readjusts his headband. "Your sister said to keep them on at all times, so that's what we're gonna do." He grimaces. "These pants, though." He starts shoving his pants and underwear off, his blue boxer briefs much darker in the front than on the sides. 

"Let's not talk about taking off pants and my sister in the same breath, huh?" Danny replies, readjusting his own headband, until he gets distracted by the fact that Steve is completely naked. Danny runs the backs of his fingers down Steve's arm, finding Steve happily satisfied. "So, that happened."

With a brilliant grin, Steve winds his arms around Danny, pulling him closer, so they're nose-to-nose. "Yeah, it did."

Danny sets his hand on Steve's hip, rubbing at Steve's shin and ankle with his toes. The contact still feels amazing, and Danny just wants to stay like this forever. He realizes it's probably been only ten minutes or so since he offered to leave Steve's room for the night. Kissing Steve with a smile on his lips, Danny asks, "Are you always this easy?"

"Easy?" Steve asks, genuinely confused. "I thought you said _this_ has been going on for, and I quote, _years_."

Danny shifts in his tacky boxers, thinking he'll have to take them off soon and regretting his decision not to go get his suitcase before this happened. He pats Steve reassuringly on the hip and says, "No, I mean is it always this easy to make you come? I didn't even touch you."

Shrugging, Steve buries his face in Danny's shoulder, laying his arm over Danny's chest and rubbing his hand up and down Danny's side. "I don't know. Not usually. You just felt really, really good."

"Supernaturally good?" Danny asks, even though as far as he knows the possibility he's thinking of shouldn't be possible. He shouldn't be able to affect Steve's emotions, just read them.

"Maybe," Steve mumbles, his grip on consciousness waning, his eyes closed and his lashes long against the upper swell of his cheek. "I don't know. Take these off." Steve pushes on the waistband of Danny's boxers, frowning like they're offending him.

Danny likes being in skin contact with a content Steve, rather than an annoyed Steve, so he takes off his boxers, uses them to wipe off a bit, and throws them off the edge of the bed. He's honestly beat, and Steve is almost asleep next to him, so Danny decides he's not going to worry about this until the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'Io is a kind of hawk native to Hawaii, and is Kono's code-name


	5. Lost and Found

Lori spends five minutes knocking on her brother's hotel room door and trying his phone for the umpteenth time before she decides to go looking for reinforcements. She's terrified that he lost his headband sometime during the night, and now he's been robbed of his free will. God, what is Lori going to tell Mom?

She starts walking down the hallway to Steve's room (she knows he can break down Danny's door if need be), and then Steve's door opens. It's not Steve who leaves the room, though. It's Danny, his shoes in hand and his dress shirt open like he just shrugged it back on. He looks up and sees Lori before she can do anything to stop it.

"Uh, hey," Danny says, his face going more than a little bit red.

“Hey,” Lori replies, raising an eyebrow at her brother. “Suddenly I’m reminded of the time you spent the night at Stephanie Hausen’s place when her parents were out of town.”

“Now there’s a name I haven’t thought about in decades,” Danny replies, walking past Lori toward his room. “Did you need something?”

“Yeah,” Lori says, following Danny toward his room. “LAPD got reports of a fight downtown. Chin and Kono are already on the way to the scene.” She watches as Danny tries to get his room unlocked, failing the first time, but getting the door open on the second try. “Are we just going to ignore the fact that you obviously spent the night in Steve’s room?”

“We were working on the case, and I fell asleep,” Danny says, digging a cell phone charger out of his duffel bag and plugging it into the socket on the desk lamp. He plugs in his phone and says, “I’ll be ready to go in like, ten, fifteen minutes.”

Lori scoffs and sits down on one of the two beds in Danny’s room. Neither of them has even been disturbed, much less slept in. “You know it’s going to take at least twenty, so you can get your hair just right.”

Danny tilts his head toward Lori, conceding the point. He starts digging through his bag, pulling out clean pieces of clothing. 

“And don’t go thinking I believe the whole ‘we fell asleep studying’ story,” Lori says with a grin, her glee at being able to torture her brother outweighing the slight tinge of jealousy she still feels at the fact that Steve didn’t want _her_. “It didn’t work on Mom in high school, and it’s not going to work on me now.”

Danny turns and gives Lori a long look. “Fine. Steve and I are …” he pauses, looking up at the ceiling. “I don’t know. We’re something. It’s early on.”

“Early enough that you haven’t told anyone,” Lori guesses, and she’s rewarded again with a nod. “Well, I’m happy for you.”

“Thanks,” Danny says. He’s halfway to the bathroom with his things when he pauses. “Hey, we talked to Lou last night.”

Lori’s not completely familiar with the name, but she thinks she remembers Danny mentioning him a few times in the past year. “The new member of your team?”

“Yeah,” Danny replies. “We’ve had a couple of rogue supers on Oahu in the past month. Lou wasn’t able to find a connection between them yesterday, but he’ll keep looking in the morning.” Danny rubs his face. “God, it shouldn’t even be morning here yet.”

Lori laughs and stands from her perch on the bed. She walks to Danny and pats his arm. “That’s what you get for staying up late, having wild and crazy monkey sex.”

Frowning, Danny takes a swipe at Lori, but she’s too quick for him. “Get out of here, Lor,” he says, going into the bathroom and closing the door. Voice raised, he calls out, “Go make yourself useful.”

“Teasing my brother is useful,” Lori replies, but she gives Danny some space and goes to make sure that Steve is awake. She assumes he is, since he’s more of a morning person than Danny, but when crazy monkey sex is involved, anything becomes possible.

Steve answers his door after the second knock, a bright smile on his face. "Hey, did you– Oh, hi, Lori."

"You should be more careful," Lori says, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "I could've been an assassin."

"You _are_ an assassin," Steve points out, though he does Lori the favor of looking sheepish and adjusts his headband like he's making sure it's still there. 

Lori shrugs. She doesn't like to call herself that, even if it's part of what she does sometimes. "We've got a new crime scene," Lori tells Steve. "There was some sort of fight."

"Someone resisting the brainwashing, do you think?" Steve asks, stepping into the room and gathering his things. 

"Yeah." Remembering the damage report she read about the incident. "It was definitely superhumans. One of them knocked down a wall."

Steve clenches his jaw and his fist, thumping his fist against the wall beside him. The blow doesn't damage the wall, but it does make Lori jump a little. "We should've been working last night," he says, his voice harsh with regret. "Then maybe we could've…"

"You can't be everywhere at once," Lori tells him. "I think only Carbon Copy can do that." She gives Steve a cheeky smile.

Shaking his head, Steve laughs. "Yeah. You're right."

Steve looks a little vulnerable right now, so Lori decides it's the perfect time for her to fulfill her sisterly duty. She steps a little closer to Steve and says in a low voice, "If you hurt my brother, McGarrett? I'll hurt you worse, and you'll never see me coming."

Steve's nervous swallow is excellently gratifying. He clears his throat and nods. "Yeah, no. Of course. I wouldn't expect anything less from a Williams."

Lori smiles brightly and pats Steve on the shoulder. "Good!"

"Did you ever threaten Rachel like that?" Steve asks, squatting down to open the hotel-room safe. He takes his gun and holster out, snapping them onto his belt as he stands.

Before Lori can tell Steve that her threats are only reserved for super humans, there's a crash and then shouting out in the hallway.

"Hey, hey! Help!" cries a familiar voice, and Lori takes a sharp breath when she realizes it's Chin.

Lori's closest to the door, so she opens it and bursts out into the hallway, Steve close on her heels. Chin's in the hallway, dragging what appears to be a body through the open door of his hotel room. The body is singed dark and bloody in places. Lori swallows against the urge to throw up.

"Chin!" Steve cries, rushing forward. "Is it…?" 

"No," Chin replies, shaking his head as Steve lifts the body's legs. "Kono's on her way. This witness still has a pulse."

Over his shoulder, Steve cries to Lori, "Get Danny!"

Lori rushes past them, trying not to look too hard at what would be a corpse if the world were merciful. She bangs on Danny's door for the second time in the past fifteen minutes, much more urgently now. "Danny! Danny, come on! It's an emergency!"

Danny opens the door, his hair wet and with a bit of shampoo still behind his ear. He's wearing pants, but no shirt, and his eyes are wide and wild with surprise. Lori pushes him back into the room, gesturing for Chin and Steve to follow her.

"Jesus," Danny cries when he catches sight of the body. He drops down to his knees and grabs the body's ankle from Steve's hand. Then, Danny closes his eyes and the whole room goes still, watching him.

Once or twice, Danny's closed eyes scrunch together, like he's in pain, but otherwise, he doesn't say anything. The body doesn't seem to be doing anything, but a minute later, Chin whispers, "Pulse is getting stronger."

Danny nods, but he doesn't open his eyes. Steve hovers over Danny, like he wants to touch Danny, support him somehow, but also doesn't want to interrupt him. Lori catches Steve's hand and pulls him away from Danny. "C'mon," she whispers. "You don't want to do that."

"I know he says not to," Steve replies, his eyes still on Danny. "But…"

Lori shakes her head. "Once when we were kids, our dog got hit by a car. Danny fixed her, but I tried to hug him while he was doing it. I didn't wake up for two days."

Steve's eyes widen for a second, but then he nods. Lori notices he doesn't drop her hand, so she squeezes his as a show of support.

"I'm not deaf," Danny says, his brow furrowing again in concentration.

No one responds.

The missing skin on the body's face starts to grow back, just gradually enough that Lori can't be quite sure that's what she's seeing. Then it's happening on the body's torso and limbs. It's a woman. Her hair is mostly gone, as are her eyebrows, which gives her an unsettling look, but it's much less unsettling than looking like a burned-up corpse.

When the woman gasps and opens her eyes, Lori practically jumps out of her skin. The only things that keep her from being embarrassed are Steve's similar response, and the need to hold the woman down when she starts to fight them, her eyes shining bright and iridescent.

"Ah!" Danny cries out, letting go of her ankle and reaching up for her head. As soon as he gets his fingers around her skull, she passes out again. "Weird," Danny says, as everyone except him sits back again.

"What's weird?" Steve asks, but Danny doesn't respond.

Instead, Danny closes his eyes again and frowns for another few minutes.

He's still at it when Kono appears in the still-open doorway. "There you guys are!" She looks back down the hotel hallway and waves someone forward. "Over here!"

There's a rattling in the hallway which Lori knows far too well for her liking. She drops Steve's hand and crouches down, across the woman from Danny. "Hey, big brother. EMTs are here. Time to let them take over."

Danny opens his eyes and blinks a few times before he focuses on her face. "What?"

"EMTs," Lori says, pointing to the doorway where two of the medics are hovering behind Kono. "Time to let go."

Danny swallows and licks his lips, taking his hands away from the woman's head like it hurts him to do so. "Okay. Yeah, okay."

Lori follows as Danny gets to his feet, looking like he's about to topple over. To her relief, Steve is there, holding out a candy bar he must've gotten from the mini bar. "Here, partner."

Danny's smile isn't much more than a twitch of his lips upward as he takes the candy. His hand must brush Steve's because Steve staggers, pulling his hand away like he's been shocked. "Sorry," Danny says through a mouthful of candy.

Steve gives Danny a sad smile. "I'm okay. You okay?"

Danny just shrugs one shoulder, so Lori crosses over to the room's phone. "I don't like how you're looking," she says, giving Danny a look she's sure he'll understand. "I'm ordering room service. One of everything?"

Danny shakes his head. "No, just like three cheeseburgers. Should do it."

Lori snorts and when the kitchen answers, she orders ten cheeseburgers. "Yeah, big party we're having up here," she says when asked. "Don't worry. We'll try to keep it down."

At the door, Chin says, "Kono and I are going to the hospital with the vic. Anyone else coming?"

Lori looks back at Steve and Danny, and then at Chin and Kono. If she's going to be a third wheel, Lori really doesn't want to be one with her brother and his brand new boyfriend. She asks Steve, "You're good to take care of him?"

"Again, I'm not _deaf_ ," Danny says, lumbering toward the mini bar and taking out another candy bar. "God, this is so stupid. I hate almonds." He eats it in two bites anyway.

Steve exhales a voiceless laugh and waves Lori toward the door. "Go. We'll follow you as soon as Grumpy here has his head screwed back on right."

Lori takes him at his word and hurries to catch up with Kono. Chin's squeezing in the elevator with the EMTs, while Kono appears to be waiting for the next elevator car. Lori stands beside her and asks, "Need a ride?"

Kono opens her mouth, then closes it again before shaking her head. "Uh, yeah." She rubs her forehead with the heel of her right hand. "Yeah, I do. We left the car next to the crime scene."

"I got ya covered," Lori assures Kono, bumping her shoulder against Kono's and smiling at her. "Congratulations on the wedding, by the way."

That gets Kono grinning. "Thanks!" The elevator on the left opens, so Lori follows Kono into the elevator car. "When things calm down, I'll tell you all about it."

Lori smiles and leans against the back wall of the elevator. "I can't wait!"


	6. Bedside Manner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chin interrogates their only witness.

Chin figures he's always been pretty good at waiting. When his father used to stop by the precinct on Saturdays to go through the papers in his inbox, Chin had no problem waiting quietly for him to finish before they went to the beach for the rest of the day. Either he brought something to read, or he spent his time trying to decipher how the phone system worked, just by feeling his way through the wires. He wasn't as fascinated as Lee by the Nintendo system that his older brother brought home, but Lee couldn't see the game's programming simply by taking up the controller. Lee was impatient, and strong. He cracked two controllers before Mother made Lee sell the system to the Younce family down the block.

Chin is patient. 

He figures he can afford to be. If he really needs to be somewhere, he can get there in an instant. This is why he volunteers to stay with injured super until she wakes up. Chin knows he could ask the Air Force or LAPD to keep guard and call him as soon as she does wake up, but he doesn't want to take any chances with their best lead at finding Catherine.

While he waits, Chin sorts through all the missing persons reports that mention super powers. He doesn't find anyone matching the woman's description. Of course, it's difficult to get a good description, even looking at her, because all of the hair on her body is gone. Chin doesn't have any idea what color to put in the search field.

He doesn't even know what part of the world to look into. Generally, he'd keep the search to the surrounding area, maybe the surrounding states, but whoever lured Catherine here got her all the way from Hawaii. What's to say they haven't been recruiting from further away? South America? Asia? Africa? Europe?

A cough pulls Chin out of his thoughts and toward the hospital bed. The woman is starting to stir and as she does, the pitcher of water beside her bed begins to levitate. Amused, Chin stands up and grasps the pitcher out of the air. Once he touches it, it regains its weight, and allows him to set it back down. 

She stirs again, groaning, so Chin finds the nurse call button and pushes it. 

Her voice low and rough, she asks, "Wh-who's there?" Her eyes open, again iridescent and alien in appearance, she's looking in Chin's direction. He gets the distinct impression she can't actually see him.

"Ma'am," he begins, keeping his voice as calm and friendly as he can, "my name is Chin Ho Kelly. I'm working with the Air Force, and I'm here to keep you safe."

"You can't," she says, her sightless eyes going wide. "You can't keep anyone safe from _her_."

"Maybe I can," Chin tells her gently. "Would you tell me your name?"

"Juanita," she says, her breaths hitching and uneven as she sits up, putting a hand to her face. "Juanita Zamorano." Her hands trace upward further to the headband, which the nurse padded with a layer of gauze so it wouldn't irritate her bare scalp.

Chin remembers the name Juanita Zamorano almost instantly. "Shimmer."

Juanita looks directly at Chin, her eyes still sparkling. She doesn't confirm the name, but she doesn't deny it either. "Where am I? Where are my glasses? What is this thing on my head?"

"You're in the hospital," Chin tells her, noticing movement at the door. It's just the same nurse he was introduced to at the beginning of the shift, so he relaxes. "The thing on your head is keeping you safe, and I already called a nurse to come check on you. You were very badly hurt. Do you remember?"

"Do I remember?" Juanita asks with a scoff. "Do I remember that _bitch_ taking over my brain and using me? Yeah. I remember. We were … she wanted this super from Hawaii. Ember."

"Ember!" That's Catherine's code name. Chin opens his mouth to ask more, to ask what happened to Catherine, but the nurse shoves him out of the way.

As patient as he normally is, Chin knows he is less so when it comes to his friends and family. "Where is Ember? Is she okay?"

“Just hold on a second, sir,” the nurse says. “I have to make sure the patient is doing well.”

Chin clenches his jaw with the frustration, but nods, allowing the nurse to work. After a moment, Juanita frowns at the nurse, and says, “Ember fought it. Very few of us can, but she fought it. Fought us.” Juanita shakes her head. “I got hit with a blast before I saw what happened.”

“Could Ember have escaped?” Chin asks, and he hears the desperation in his own voice, but he can’t help it. Catherine worked with Five-0 off and on for four years. Chin cares about her like he cares about his own family. “Could she have gotten away?”

“No one has yet,” Juanita replies, shaking her head. “There were so many of us. I don’t even know how I got away.”

Sitting down in the chair next to Juanita’s bed, Chin doesn’t say that Juanita was probably left behind because she’d been so gravely injured. If Chin hadn’t gotten her to Danny when he did, she would’ve died. The person doing this left Juanita behind, like a broken toy, not like a person. 

The nurse leaves, saying, “The doctor will be in shortly.”

Chin nods to her and then asks Juanita, “Who is doing this?”

“I don’t know her name,” Juanita says, her eyes widening with fear. “She–“ Juanita shakes her head again and licks her lips. “She made me feel like nothing could go wrong. We called her Sister.”

“And she wanted Catherine – Ember – in particular?” Chin asks, leaning close enough to let his hand hover over Juanita’s until she turns her palm toward his and nods. Chin puts his hand in hers. “Do you know why?”

“Sister’s going to Hawaii,” Juanita says, sighing as if she’s just remembered this fact, and it gives her comfort. “She wanted someone, an insider. None of the others she sent to Hawaii could get close.”

Chin remembers the super who attacked Steve and Danny the other night. What was she? A test?

“When is Sister supposed to go?” Chin asks, already pulling out his tablet and bringing up passenger manifests for outbound flights to Hawaii.

“As soon as she got Ember,” Juanita replies, her brows furrowed as she watches Chin sift through the information his tablet connects him to. “You’re a super.”

“Mea Kipa,” Chin tells her, not finding enough on the passenger manifests to tell whether or not Sister and her assorted super slaves have boarded a plane. If they have, and Catherine’s still alive, she’s flying under an alias. He gives Juanita a smile that he hopes is more encouraging than he feels. “My friends call me Chin.”

Then, he finds it. Chin finds a still from a security camera at LAX, and right there, heading into the airport, is Catherine. She’s following a woman who looks about Chin’s age, and there’s a large group around her. Twelve, maybe more supers, all in plain clothes, but moving together as Chin scrolls forward and back through the images. They’re time-stamped almost eight hours ago. Sister is already there.

Chin’s gut tightens into a cold knot. The only supers left on Oahu are Lou Grover and Kawika. Against that many supers, it’s a sitting duck. Firing off the pictures to Kono with a short note about what he’s found, Chin asks Juanita, “What is Sister planning on doing when she gets to Hawaii? Why does she need an insider?”

“She didn’t tell me,” Juanita says, her iridescent eyes even shinier, and Chin realizes she’s about to cry. “But it’s going to be bad. Oh, God, it’s going to be so bad.”

Chin squeezes Juanita’s hand once more and says, “Thank you for your help. It’s been invaluable.” He pulls his hand out of hers and stands. 

Wiping away the tears, Juanita says, “Wait. Are you leaving? I can barely…” She flicks her fingers and a box of tissues wafts across the room toward her, shaking as it goes, like Juanita’s having a hard time keeping it aloft. She catches it in her hands and looks up at Chin, her eyes pleading, “I’m almost defenseless.”

“We’ll take care of you,” Chin assures her, though he’s itching to leave. Lou could be in trouble right at this instant. “Besides, Sister thinks you’re dead. You’re probably the safest super on the entire planet.”

Chin leaves the room, sending off two texts simultaneously. The first is to LAPD, asking them to protect Juanita and keep her identity out of the papers. The other is to Kono and Steve. It says, _Meeting Sister on Oahu_.

Chin knows this ‘port is a risk. He’s ‘ported from one island to another, but he’s never ‘ported to or from the islands from farther than a hundred miles off shore. Honolulu is 5000 miles away.

Chin ducks into an empty patient room. This is going to take concentration, and a quiet environment. He locks the door, turns off the lights, and closes his eyes. He knows Honolulu, and he knows the Five-0 headquarters better than almost any other place on earth. Chin feels it there, faintly, beckoning him home.

Chin is patient. Chin knows how to wait. But Chin also knows that sometimes, waiting gets the people you love killed. He pictures Lou shot through the chest, like Malia had been when Chin found her. That can’t happen. Not again.

Just as Chin grabs onto that faint, faint beacon of home, his phone rings. He ignores it and _pulls_.

~*~

Chin can’t breathe. He’s everywhere and nowhere and everything feels like it’s spinning, and he can’t breathe. There’s no air, and he’s so tired, and he can’t find home. Kono is going to kill him.

_There_.

That beacon of home is a little brighter than when Chin last grasped it. He _pulls_ and falls out of the non-space into a bush. The world’s still spinning, but at least now it’s lush, green, and warm. This isn’t Five-0 headquarters, but it’s Hawaii.

Hawaii goes dark, and dimly Chin is aware of his temple thumping against the soft earth.


	7. The Hunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team tries to track down Chin.

When Chin doesn't pick up after the fourth ring, Kono breaks the connection and tries again. "What the fuck, cuz?" she mutters to herself, pulling out her tablet as Chin's phone rings and rings.

"What's going on?" Lori asks, startling Kono because she'd forgotten Lori was standing there. 

"Chin 'ported somewhere," Kono replies, handing Lori the still-ringing phone. "Keep trying him, I'm going to trace his phone."

"Where do you think he's gone?" Lori asks, holding the phone to her ear. 

Kono grimaces and closes her eyes as she traces Chin's phone through the tablet, visualizing the information pathways in her mind's eye as she searches for the right ones. _Chin would be able to do this so much faster_ , she thinks.

"Kono?"

_There_. Kono's found the closest cell tower to Chin's phone. "He's on Lana'i," she tells Lori, concentrating as she fires off a message to the Lana'i Sheriff's Department. "He was aiming for Oahu."

Lori shifts her weight on her feet. "Has he ever 'ported that far before?" Lori asks, and when Kono looks at her, she's semi-transparent, her arms wrapped around herself. 

Shaking her head, Kono says, "Never. He's never attempted a 'port that far, and now he's not picking up his phone." She slips her phone out of Lori's hand and tries again. "Probably killed himself trying to do it," Kono says, shaking her head and calling Steve. 

"Kono, Chin just–" Steve says as he answers, but Kono cuts him off.

"His phone's on Lana'i. He's not picking up. We have to–"

"I'm getting the plane warmed up as we speak. Get down here ASAP."

"Got it, boss," Kono replies, severing the connection. "This Sister person is headed for Hawaii, and now so are we," Kono tells Lori.

Lori nods decisively, her body completely opaque and back to normal. "Okay. Let's go."

As they get into Lori's car, Lori says, "I'm sure Chin is fine."

Kono knows Lori is just trying to be nice, so she gives Lori the best smile she can come up with, but it's more of a grimace than anything. Kono's cousin might be dead. That's a reality Kono has to prepare herself for. Accurately faking a smile isn't something she can spare the energy for right now. 

~*~

Steve leaves Lori in the co-pilot's seat and heads toward the back of the plane. His mind is racing, trying to piece everything together and figure out what happened to Chin and why. He crouches down next to Kono. "We're about 30 minutes out. You got everything from Chin's witness?"

Kono nods, holding out her tablet, which is playing a video of Shimmer speaking with one of Colonel Victorson's people. "This Sister person is planning an attack on Hawaii," Kono says, her voice grim, and dark circles under her eyes. 

Danny joins them from the far back of the plane, shoving his phone into his pocket. "I talked to Lou," Danny says, holding onto the bulkhead over Kono's seat and resting his other hand on Steve's shoulder. There's nothing left in Danny's touch of the electric-shock-pull from earlier, which is a relief. "He's putting the whole state on alert. Given what happened in LA, he thinks the Governor might call in reinforcements from our allies in Australia and South Korea." "Okay, good," Steve says with a nod.

Danny scoffs and rolls his eyes. "I don't know about that."

"After what happened in LA," Kono says, flipping her tablet around and looking at it, "you'd think it would be a better idea to keep us supers as far away from Sister as possible."

"Each and every one of us is fodder for her whacked-out cannon," Danny says in agreement. He reaches up to touch his headband. "They definitely shouldn't step foot on Hawaii if they don't have one of these."

With a sigh, Steve agrees. "No, you're right. They shouldn't. In fact, the more of these we can get made and distributed to key personnel, the better."

"I'll go ask Lori about that," Kono says, ducking under Danny's outstretched arm as she stands. 

Steve turns toward Danny with a sigh. "Chin's going to be fine."

"I hear the words," Danny says with a low chuckle, "but I'm not feeling the hope." He taps on Steve's temple with a gentle smile. "We're gonna find him."

Steve lets himself have a moment and steps closer to Danny, putting his face in Danny's shoulder and wrapping his arms around him. WIth a chuckle, he says, "It's weird. I kinda do feel a little more hopeful. You doing that?"

"I…" Danny huffs, squeezing Steve and then letting go. "I don't know. It's only ever been a one-way street before."

Checking over his shoulder to make sure the girls aren't paying attention to them, Steve leans closer to Danny and murmurs, "Once this is all over, we'll have to find some time to test it out."

"Oh, yeah?" Danny replies with a wide, pleased grin. A shiver of desire flares through Steve, and he's fairly certain it had originated with Danny. "That sounds–"

Before Danny can answer, Chin appears a few steps behind Danny, a warm puff of air accompanying him. Chin's wide-eyed, his clothes dirty and his hair wet and out of place. He's breathing heavily, and looks like he might fall over at any second.

"Chin!" Steve cries out, reaching toward him. 

Danny gets there first, grasping Chin's forearms. "Chin?" Suddenly, Danny's head whips around and he meets Steve's eyes. "N–"

Chin and Danny both disappear, leaving Steve grasping at thin air. "No!" he cries out, futilely looking around the plane, like they couldn't have gone far.

"Danny!" Lori cries, scrambling with Kono into the back section of the plane. "Chin took him!"

Kono rests a hand on Steve's shoulder. "Maybe Chin needed help. Maybe someone was dying."

Steve closes his eyes, trying to remember everything about Chin's appearance. The whole incident happened so fast. Why was Chin's expression so blank? Why was Danny so concerned when he touched Chin? Oh, no. "Chin wasn't wearing his headband," Steve says, dread gnawing at his belly. "He wasn't himself." 

Rage wells up in Steve's chest and he tries not to take it out on the plane as he paces away from Kono and Lori. "First Catherine, then Chin, now Danny?"

"Sister's picking us off one by one," Lori says, her eyes wide as she reaches for Kono.

Kono takes Lori's hand and squeezes it. "If Chin comes back–"

" _When_ he comes back," Steve corrects her. He's sure now that Chin and Sister have Danny, they're going to try to take someone else.

"When he comes back," Kono repeats, tilting her head toward Steve. "We're going to have to fight him."

"Can you do that?" Steve asks Kono. "He's your cousin."

"He's your friend, too," Kono reminds him. "Can _you_ fight him?"

Steve sighs and shrugs. He's not sure. He and Chin have trained together before, but Steve never seriously considered fighting Chin for real. Super abilities are so diverse that the chances Steve would ever fight another super capable of teleportation are vanishingly small. Steve should've anticipated the need to fight Chin himself, but he didn't.

It was stupid and short-sighted of him, and Five-0 deserves better.

Looking Kono right in the eye, Steve says, "I'm going to have to."

~*~

Danny's 'ported with Chin three times in his life, and he's hated it every single time. This time, the third time, is definitely not the charm, because Danny caught a glimpse of Chin's emotions on the plane. Gone was Chin's usual even serenity, layered over his constant grief and rage. 

Before Danny could break the connection or warn the others, Chin had pulled him off the plane and through the non-space that Danny can't quite wrap his head around.

They're only between places a fraction of a second before the world fades back in, the grayness of non-space wiped away. The room is full of people, which is never a good sign. 

Heart up in his throat and pounding loudly in his ears, Danny pushes Chin away and gets ready to fight. The people, about thirty of them, all shapes and colors, give Danny a wide berth, none of them moving forward within striking distance. Danny spots Chin, and Catherine, and a few of the faces they were looking for in LA, but he can't tell if any of the others are Sister or not. Danny only got a glimpse of the airport security footage. He'd seen it with Steve and assumed Steve would memorize the face like he always does.

Why aren't any of them coming at Danny? What are they waiting for? "Fine," Danny says, pulling his gun from its holster. "If that's the way you want to play it." Danny points his gun at the first face he doesn't recognize. "Which one of you is Sister?"

None of them respond, which Danny has to admit is really creeping him out. He turns, finding Catherine's face in the crowd. He tries to meet her eyes, but she's looking right through him. "Which one of them is Sister?" Danny asks Catherine.

All she does is blink. 

"God damn it, Catherine! Answer me!"

Catherine doesn't telegraph the move at all before she lifts her hand and sends a ball of explosive fire in Danny's direction. It explodes five feet in front of him and knocks him off his feet. Danny manages to hold onto his gun and heal his broken rib in no time flat. The headband slips from his head and clatters across the floor.

"Detective Williams," a woman's voice says, and Danny turns to see her stepping out from the crowd. She's a normal looking woman, with light skin and brown hair, probably early thirties. She's wearing dramatic purple robes, which would look ridiculously dramatic in any other crowd. As it is, she has all her pet supers dressed in their flashiest uniforms. 

Danny has to admit, he feels a little underdressed.

He starts moving his arm, so he can point his gun at Sister. If he shoots her in the shoulder, he might be able to knock her out and free all of these other people from her influence. Who knows, she might even bleed out, and Danny thinks that would probably be okay.

Danny's arm freezes halfway through its arc toward Sister. With a panicked gasp, Danny tries again, but it's no use. Sister's walking closer and closer, her eyes on his and he can't look away.

Desperately, Danny recites the '93 Mets lineup in his head, just in case she can read his surface thoughts. God, she can't find out what Danny knows. She'll know everything about Five-0, if she didn't already get it from Chin. She'll know about _Grace_!

Sister takes a few more steps toward Danny, and he hopes to god she touches him, because he is going to drain the everloving life right out of her. Frustratingly, she stops moving an arm length away. 

"Oh, he's a strong one," Sister says, a pleased giggle in her voice. "What a nice challenge."

Danny's jaw and throat barely work, but he's able to get them around the words, "Fuck you."

"Sleep."

Danny's body slumps without his permission and a rushing sound floods his head. He's only three members into the lineup when everything falls away.

~*~

When Chin 'ports back to the plane, Kono is ready for him. Steve and Lori are in the cockpit, preparing to land at Hickam. Kono's sitting with her back to them, feet braced against a short cargo container attached to the floor, gun out and ready in her hand. 

Whenever Chin 'ports, there's this rushing sound as he exchanges himself for some of the air in the room. It's difficult to hear over the plane engines, but not impossible. Kono raises her gun, pointing it right where Chin appears.

"Don't do this, cousin," she calls out to him.

Chin's face is blank, and Kono has to bite back tears. Her cousin is just _gone_. He's gone and someone did this to him.

When Chin takes another step toward Kono, she aims her gun at his shoulder. "Don't make me shoot you!"

Over Kono's shoulder, Steve calls, "Don't do it, Chin. We will kill you if we need to."

Kono prays to every deity she's ever heard of that Steve's not going for a kill shot. 

There's a slight pressure and movement of the air when Lori climbs over Kono, completely invisible. If not for the fact that Lori worked with them almost a whole year, Kono would feel uncomfortable shooting while unable to see Lori. Now, though, Kono trusts Lori to stay out of the way of friendly fire.

"What did you do with Danny?" Steve asks Chin, who's still standing there, looking at them like he's trying to calculate an opportunity. "Where is he?"

Chin doesn't respond. 

His head snaps back and it takes Kono a second to realize Lori's punched him. It wasn't hard enough to knock him out, and he turns, grasping at thin air where Lori used to be. He grasps again, searching for Lori, trying to take her away. Kono hears Lori's footsteps well enough to approximate her location and then fires off a round, hitting Chin in the back of his shoulder.

Chin reels from the blow, and then disappears with another whoosh of air.

Turning visible, Lori asks, "Do you think he's coming back?"

"I don't know," Kono says, resuming her vigil, with her back to Steve as he slips back down into the pilot's seat.

Steve calls over his shoulder, "It'll take Danny at least ten minutes to heal that wound, if Sister allows it. That's enough time to land the plane, at least."

"I'll take it," Lori says, giving Kono a sad smile and a squeeze to the shoulder as she climbs over Kono and back into the co-pilot's seat. 

Kono sighs and tries not to think about how her hands are shaking. She's just shot Chin, her favorite cousin. When Kono's powers were first developing, he was the one who taught her how to control them. He spent long hours just sitting with Kono, holding her hand as they meditated. 

Chin did all of that for her, and now she had to shoot him. 

Kono makes a promise to herself that the next person she shoots is going to be Sister. That's just the way it's going to be.


	8. Behind Enemy Lines

By the time Steve, Kono, and Lori reach Five-0 headquarters, they have yet to be accosted by Chin again. Steve hopes that's because Sister's waiting for them to drop their guard, not because Kono killed Chin by shooting him. He's relieved to see Lou and Jerry both in headquarters, along with Kawika.

"Howzit," Steve says to the three of them, barely holding back his weary sigh.

Lou puts his hand on Steve's shoulder, saying, "Sorry about Chin and Williams. We're doing everything we can think of to find them."

"Yeah, thanks, Lou," Steve replies, looking over the files Jerry has open on Chin's computer table. "How's that going?"

"Well," Jerry says, pulling up the surveillance picture of Sister from LAX. "We've found out that our mind control super is named Abigail Arata, formerly of Lubbock, Texas."

"She's never been on any of the registries?" Lori asks, stepping forward to get a better look at Jerry's information.

"None of them," Jerry insists.

"First bout of trouble she ran into," Lou says, approaching the hanging screens and pointing to a photograph, "Was this security footage from a diamond heist about six months ago."

Squinting at the screen, Steve steps closer, pointing to a male figure next to Sister. "Is that Moonshadow?"

"Nice spotting, Boss," Jerry says, bringing up another file. "Moonshadow, aka Joseph Cruz. Powers include super strength and misdirection. He went missing from his day job in Houston eight months ago, and was found dead in the New Mexico desert three months ago. The manner of his death is still unsolved."

Kawika clicks his tongue and shakes his head. "Poor bastard."

"Did you know him?" Kono asks gently.

Shrugging, Kawika waggles his hand. "Not really. Met him once at this conference we had for superpowered indigenous people. Seemed like a solid guy."

"He very well could have been," Kono assures Kawika. "If he was with Sister at this bank heist, it was most likely against his will."

Comforting a friend is all well and good, but Steve's still stuck on the fact that Moonshadow was with Sister, and now he's dead. How soon before Chin, Danny, and Catherine all wind up dead, too? Addressing Jerry, Steve says, "Tell me everything we know about how Cruz died."

"Original ME's report says dehydration and exposure, from being out in the desert for too long, but the OSPR called for another autopsy, and they found extensive, microscopic damage to the tissues in his brain," Jerry says, his voice careful and his eyes wide, like he's not quite sure how Steve's going to take the news.

Lou picks up one of the paper files from the edge of the computer table and hands it to Steve. "I showed this to Max, and he seems to think if the dehydration hadn't killed Cruz, the brain damage would have soon enough."

"Would the brain damage have affected his behavior?" Lori asks, peering over Steve's shoulder as he flips through the autopsy report. 

"Probably made him harder to control," Kawika says, crossing his arms over his chest. "So this _Sister_ told him to walk out into the desert until he died."

The theory disgusts Steve, but he knows it's the one that makes the most sense. He nods his thanks to Kawika for the idea, and then turns back toward his team. "Have you found any other unexplained deaths of supers in the past year or two."

"We're still looking," Lou replies. He pulls up another file, a list of some sort. "We've also been using one of Chin's programs to track unusual super sightings on the islands. Based on tweets, texts, emails, and the like from witnesses, we've narrowed down Sister's location to the Western half of Honolulu."

"Is that _legal_?" Lori asks.

"Technically, no," Lou replies with a sly grin. He sticks his hand out toward Lori. "I don't believe we've met. Lou Grover, Alloy."

"Lori Williams, Unseen. It's nice to finally meet you."

Narrowing his eyes, Lou asks, "What do you mean 'finally'?"

Lori stands there gaping like a fish, her cheeks pink, so Steve decides to save time by answering for her. "What she means is Danny complains about you a lot, and she's the one that has to hear about it."

Finger pointed at Steve, Lori nods. "What he said."

"Well, now I don't even want to find him anymore," Lou replies.

Steve can't quite chuckle, but he does bring himself to backhand Lou's arm lightly and say, "Chin and Catherine are out there too, you know."

" _Them_ ," Lou cries. "Them I will help!"

Kono looks over Lou's map, drawing attention back to it when she says, "Have we run a trace on Danny's phone yet?"

Nodding, Jerry says, "Yeah. No signal."

A funny look on her face, Kono freezes for a second before setting her hand against the computer table and closing her eyes. The display flickers through programs more quickly than it can render them, just like whenever Chin or Kono apply their powers to it. Steve's trying to decide whether or not to break Kono's flow by asking her what she's doing when she speaks. "I'm sure I can find Danny's phone," she says. "I feel it out there somewhere."

Lori meets Steve's eye, raising an eyebrow. Steve shakes his head at her. Kono's developed her tech powers a lot since Lori left Hawaii, and Steve doesn't have the time to get Lori up to speed right now.

"I've got a stingray on Pearl Harbor Base," Kono says. "Just gotta get past military security, and I should be able to activate all the phones within a five mile radius." "That doesn't seem legal either," Lori says quietly.

Steve shrugs. Technically, they've got a lot of leeway vis a vis the law, thanks to the Governor.

"There!" Kono says, mapping a location up on the screen for the others to see. "Danny's phone is there."

"Pearl Harbor?" Lou asks.

"Near Southeast Loch," Kono replies, looking over at Steve. "That's where the battleships are, isn't it?"

Steve presses his lips together and gives Kono a look. "Yeah, that's where the battleships are." He turns to look at the rest of the team. "How could they get onto the base without us knowing about it?"

"Is that a real question?" Jerry asks, which makes Steve want to ball up his fists in frustration. Steve hopes the look he gives Jerry conveys that information, and it must, because Jerry hops to it. "We've got a list of almost forty supers that have gone missing from their posts around the world in the last year. If Sister has forty supers working for her like her little puppet slaves, that's…"

"That's a lot of power in the wrong hands," Lori finishes for him. 

"Yeah," Jerry agrees. "You could do just about anything with that much power."

"Like go to war with the whole US Navy?" Kono suggests. 

"Yeah," Steve says with a grimace, brain coming up with as many plans of attack as possible. "Just like that."

~*~

When Danny realizes he's in a different place than he was a moment before, he's got his hands on the sides of some poor guy's face. Danny's clothes and hair are wet, and he feels bursting at the seams with energy. He knows he's supposed to be getting these people – these _sailors_ out of the way as quickly and as quietly possible. Danny _knows_ that's his mission, he just doesn't remember _why_ he's doing it. 

Danny also doesn't remember what happened to the sailor on the ground five steps behind Danny. He looks dead, and Danny has a sinking suspicion he knows how the guy ended up that way.

Chin 'ports in next to Danny (his clothes still dry) and says, "Finish him off, already. Sister wants us to take the Hopper _yesterday_."

Danny realizes that by "finish off", Chin means "kill". The suggestion is so wildly _not_ Chin that it sends a shiver down Danny's spine. 

Chin narrows his eyes at Danny. "You alright, brah?"

Shit. The last thing Danny remembers is being surrounded by Sister's zombies. As much as Chin might usually be Danny's friend, right now he's the enemy. And Danny's a spy in enemy territory. The man in Danny's hands is definitely military. _US_ Navy, so there's no way in hell Danny's actually going to kill him. 

Danny can, however, sedate him for the time being, which should also protect him from the other supers under Sister's control. Danny pulls a little more energy out of the soldier and lowers him to the ground. "I'm good," he tells Chin quietly. "Let's go."

As Danny walks, he realizes the floor is swaying slightly. They're on a ship. Suddenly the word "Hopper" makes much more sense. They're on the USS Hopper, a boat Danny only knows the name of because Steve has a never ending love of battleships. 

Catherine steps into the hallway and motions Danny and Chin closer. "I've disabled the comms," she whispers, pointing back at the room she's just left. "We can take the bridge and they won't be able to call for help."

"Cell phones?" Danny asks, speaking before he has a chance to think about whether or not it's a good idea. 

"I'm jamming them," Chin replies softly, raising an eyebrow at Danny. Shit. He's still suspicious. 

"Oh, right, right," Danny says, pointing at Chin. "Sorry. All the, um," he mimics the pose he'd been holding the sailor in, and then points to his head, "the juice, or whatever. Got me a little hyped-up."

"Ah," Chin says, smiling as his suspicions fade away. "Right. Let's go."

Chin and Catherine both look determined as they head down the hallway, and Danny knows that can't be good. He's seen the damage Catherine can do when she's out of control. And lord knows Danny has spent a lot of time thinking about the terrifying ways Chin _could_ use his ability, but _doesn't_. 

Danny could overpower both of them, he's got their trust, so he could put them to sleep simultaneously. He could do that, but then what happens next? How many other supers are on this boat? How long before one, or two, or ten of them do damage that Danny just _can't_ heal?

No, he has to keep playing along, at least for now.

He has to limit the damage Chin and Catherine are set on doing.

"Hey," Danny hisses toward the others, getting them to turn around and look at him. "Let me go first. I'm quieter."

Catherine looks at Chin, who nods, and then sweeps her hand, gesturing Danny forward. "The bridge is up that set of stairs and to the left," she tells him with an encouraging nod.

This is so weird. Danny can't get over how weird this is. They're acting all buddy-buddy with Danny, like taking over a Naval warship is something the three of them do together all the time. While it's true that they're teammates, and they have breached hostile territory together before, this is a very, very different hostile territory. 

Danny's just glad he hasn't seen Steve under Sister's control, yet. Once that happens, Danny's sure the whole world is doomed. Steve isn't the most powerful super out there, but he's one of the smartest and most well-trained. If Sister gets her hands on Steve's tactical genius, Danny doubts anything short of a nuclear bomb could stop her.

If Danny's going to stop that from happening (given the assumption that it hasn't already), he's going to have to take down Sister's organization from the inside. That means figuring out how he broke free of her influence, so he can help the others get their wits back as well. Figuring it out means finding a quiet moment of peace, which means playing along, in the short term.

Danny climbs the stairs.

There's a guard at the top, armed only with the sidearm at his hip. Danny touches the man's bare arm and pulls just enough to make him woozy. "This way, big guy," he says, leading the sailor back down the stairs. He's clumsy, falling over himself, but he's quiet, which is key. Once he's back down on level ground, Danny puts his thumb to the man's forehead and pulls enough to sedate him for a nice, long time. The man's heart rate and breathing slow, but they should speed up in a minute or two. Danny hopes.

"Stash him somewhere," Danny tells Chin, who nods and 'ports away for just a moment before 'porting back. God, Danny hopes Chin put him somewhere safe, and not at the bottom of the harbor, or something. Chin's still-dry clothes are slim comfort.

Climbing back up the stairs, Danny gets a look around. He can see door to the bridge, and he can also see the sailor posted at the door. Danny gives a sharp whistle and says, "Hey, buddy. C'mere. Give me a hand with this."

The soldier doesn't even question Danny. He's young, and trusting, and Danny feels really bad for the kid when Danny grabs him. The kid's limp, asleep, before Danny gets the chance to turn around and pass him back down the stairs to Chin.

Danny's skin is buzzing, his muscles twitching all over his body. He's drained too much energy today. He can feel it, crawling under his skin, whispering that he could run a hundred miles, jump a hundred feet in the air, tear someone apart with his bare hands. Danny _hates_ this feeling, but he's got nowhere to dump the energy. Chin and Catherine are in perfect health, as are the sailors on this boat. Maybe he should let Catherine burn them, just so he has someone to heal, but Danny comes to the conclusion that Chin and Catherine won't let him heal anyone.

Healing is what Danny _does_. It's what he's always done, and Sister is taking that from him. Danny's going to punch her so hard. He's going to tear _her_ apart with his bare hands. 

Catherine brushes past Danny, peeking out into the hallway outside the bridge. Danny puts a hand on her arm to steady her, and that's when he notices it. Her brain is hurt. Her brain is hurt in _exactly_ the same way Shimmer's brain was hurt. Danny's healing her before he consciously thinks of it. She looks back at him with wide eyes, surprise flooding through her. "Danny?"

He nods up at the hallway and asks, "Keep an eye out, huh?" Then he turns back to Chin. "We've got an opening here in a second. Stick close?"

Danny holds out his hand, and Chin is so trusting when he takes it, Danny hates to betray him like this. Even if he's helping Chin in the long run, holding him still while Danny pours energy into his brain, healing it as Chin struggles for half a second to get away.

When Danny's done, almost all of his extra energy drained away between healing the both of them, Chin blinks a few times before meeting Danny's eyes. "What's going on?"

"We're taking over a battleship," Danny tells him, holding onto Chin as he sways. 

A loud noise from above pulls Danny's attention, and he asks Catherine, "What's that?"

She's rubbing her head, her brow furrowed, but she turns back and tells Danny, "Three supers just took the bridge."

"Shit," Danny says with a sigh. "Listen. As far as Sister and her friends know, we're still with them. Play along, huh? She's got too many of us under her control to fight her straight on."

"Take her down from the inside out," Catherine says with a nod. "I'm in."

Chin looks like he's about to be sick, but he clenches his jaw and nods. "I'm in, too."

"Good," Danny says. "C'mon. Let's go try to minimize the damage, without _looking_ like we're minimizing the damage, huh?"

"Yeah," Catherine says. She stands up straighter and strides right toward the bridge, like she belongs there. Well, it is a naval battleship. For a long time, she probably _did_ belong there.

Danny follows her, acting as best he can, with Chin on his heels.

Catherine enters the bridge, telling the other supers, "We've cleared the lower decks. The ship is ours."

There's three of them. One of the women is wearing a bright white costume, which contrasts with her dark black skin. The other woman is wearing pink, and Danny thinks he recognizes her from one of the conferences Steve made him go to as Five-0's representative, but he can't remember her name. The man is wearing green and blue, his hair a startling blue as well. Danny's fairly certain he dyed it blue himself, because rarely does a person's superpower meddle with their coloring. Or, at least that's what Danny learned in his college biology class.

"Good," says the woman wearing white. "Sister will be pleased." She looks down at the control board in front of her. "Ember, how do we contact Sister?"

"I destroyed the comms," Catherine tells her, holding her back tall and looking straight ahead. "So the enemy couldn't blow our plans too soon."

"Very well," the woman says, a sharp gleam to her smile. "Traveler, you must get her the message."

Danny knows Chin prefers his Hawaiian code name, _Mea Kipa_ , rather than the English, _Traveler_ , but Chin doesn't argue. Instead, he gives a sharp nod and 'ports away. God, Danny hopes he's going to contact Steve while he's gone. He doesn't want to be trapped here with Catherine and a bunch of supers he doesn't know he could trust if he did manage to wake them up.

Before anything else can happen, Chin is back, the woman in purple clutched in his arms. As he lets her go, she steps away from him regally, like she's absolutely sure everyone in the room is there to worship her. By the looks on the other supers' faces, she's not far off. 

"Good work, everyone," Sister says, caressing the blue-haired guy's arm, then the woman in white's cheek. "This is the third ship we've taken. Just eight more, and we'll have the entire fleet."

Danny wonders if that's true, but he doesn't dare turn to Catherine for confirmation, not while Sister is in the room and he's not sure how he's supposed to act in order to avoid suspicion. Catherine, on the other hand, clears her throat.

"What is it, Ember?" Sister asks, turning toward them. She doesn't even spare Danny a glance, so sure is she that Danny's still under her spell.

"There are fifteen ships currently stationed here at Pearl Harbor," Catherine says, not looking past Sister like she would with a superior officer, but down at Sister's feet. "There's four submarines."

"Four submarines," Sister repeats, finally looking at Danny, who lowers his eyes, watching through his lashes as Sister looks around at the rest of the room. She laughs, finishing her circuit of the room and then leaning toward Catherine, kissing her gently on the cheek. "I knew you would come in handy, Ember. You're the best addition to my collection since Ice Raven!"

"Thank you, Sister," Catherine murmurs, letting her hand come to her cheek where Sister kissed her. Ugh, Catherine is far too good at playing this part. No wonder the Intelligence community had her for so long before she retired and came to Five-0.

Sister nods and turns to look out from the large windows of the bridge. "Mayday, you'll stay here and guard this bridge," she says to the woman in pink. "The rest of you, with me. It's time to crush these human ants and take what's mine."

Danny throws up in his mouth a little, but he manages to hide his reaction from everyone but Chin, who brushes the back of his hand against Danny's (broadcasting _concern_ ), and gives a minuscule shake of his head.

Giving Chin a nod back, Danny follows Sister from the bridge. He feels slimy and gross, but above all else, he doesn't want to give Sister any reason to believe he's not under her control. If she realizes, he'll be back under in a blink of an eye, and he's not sure he'll be able to heal himself again.


	9. Battleship

The only thing holding Catherine together is her military training. Finish the mission, everything else is secondary. As soon as little flashes of emotion flicker through her mind, Catherine turns them off. She doesn’t need to feel betrayed, or stupid, or angry. That’s not going to help anyone.

She thinks the hardest part of this whole ordeal isn’t fighting against her fellow sailors, or following Sister’s commands. The hardest part is knowing that there are things she doesn’t remember, but not being clear on what those things are. Catherine remembers fighting when she realized Sister was going to turn her into one of her slaves. She did what she was trained to do and fought for her life, even though she knew the supers she was fighting against didn’t really want to be hurting her. 

Catherine remembers killing at least one of them, maybe more, before she was overwhelmed. 

How many more people did Catherine kill?

There are bits and pieces of memories, but not enough, not nearly enough to make up all the time that’s gone by since she got off the plane in LA. 

Catherine sticks close to Danny and Chin as they take the second battle cruiser. This time, Sister is with them, watching as they take the ship. The second offensive isn’t as stealthy, and the alarm sounds before they get to the bridge. She and Danny are pinned down together, taking fire from gunners on the deck, and Sister is with them.

Briefly, Catherine fantasizes about grabbing Sister’s arm, cooking her from the inside out until she’s a dried husk of ashes, but Catherine is getting tired, and she’s not sure she could finish Sister off before falling back under her control. Not to mention the fact that Night Owl is with them, as well. If Catherine makes so much as a move in Sister’s direction, she’s sure Night Owl will kill her. Catherine remembers feeling that homicidal rage toward anyone who even thought of harming Sister. The memory makes her want to puke.

A sailor gets around the container they’re using as cover, and Danny automatically moves to intercept him. He holds the sailor’s gun arm down and puts his thumb to the sailor’s forehead. 

“Hold on,” Sister says, her voice loud but calm, given how many sailors are still shooting at them. “I want to try something.”

Danny freezes, turning to look at Sister. He watches as she crawls over toward him and the sailor, and Catherine works as hard as she can to keep a straight face. She’s half-concerned Sister is about to do something gruesome, but she just stares at the sailor for a moment, catching his eyes with hers. “Stand,” she says to the sailor, and he does it, exposing his head over the crate. The shooting from the other side slows down at the sight of him, but doesn’t stop.

Sister laughs, delighted. “Normals used to be so much harder for me to control,” she says with a happy sigh. “I’m getting stronger.”

Catherine shares a look with Danny and she thinks this is going to be it, they’re going to take her now, Night Owl’s presence be damned. Danny gives Catherine what looks like is going to be a nod, but he’s interrupted when Sister speaks again.

“Shoot yourself in the head.”

Without hesitation, the sailor does as Sister asks, spraying blood and brain matter all over the place. Several hot drops hit Catherine’s cheek and she has to dig her nails into her clenched palm to keep her face impassive. Danny looks away, and Catherine’s sure it’s because he can’t hide the pain on his face. That sailor was someone’s son, and Sister killed him like he was an insect.

Turning toward Chin, Sister says, “Bring me another normal. I want to try it again.”

Chin nods and disappears. 

Sister turns to Catherine, smiling as she asks, “What do you think, Ember? About the newfound breadth to my power?”

“You are truly amazing and inspiring,” Catherine tells her, keeping the sarcasm out of her voice as best she can. “Shall I take care of the men shooting at us, Sister?”

“Distract them,” Sister says, waving her hand in that general direction. “They’re more useful to me alive than dead, now.”

Thanking the universe for small mercies, Catherine says, “As you wish, Sister,” and turns to peek around the crate. She pinpoints the best spot for an explosion to knock the sailors back without harming any of them. Maybe she should kill them, take mercy on them so they never become Sister’s playthings.

Still, they know Danny can reverse whatever it is that Sister does to put people under her control. Catherine would rather not kill people when there’s a possibility they can be saved.

Catherine lets her power loose, and the explosion does just what it was supposed to, creates a large noise, and puts a few of the sailors on their backs.

Seconds after the explosion, Chin returns with another sailor in his arms. He looks so scared, Catherine has to blink back tears and turn away from Sister, for fear of being found out. How are she and the others supposed to get out of this? How?

~*~

Steve leads what's left of his team into Pearl Harbor, stopping at a barricade the Navy and Air Force personnel have constructed. He finds the CO quickly, a Captain with the name "Jones" on her lapel, and tells her, "Steve McGarrett, Five-0. What's the situation?"

"The enemy has five of our ships, and have sunk another two. They've been bombarding the base itself, but so far, we've been following orders not to attack the ships."

"Orders from whom?" Steve asks.

"The Pentagon," Jones replies, ducking and covering her ears as a shell hits a hundred yards away. "Orders are to gain control of the ships while causing as little damage to them as possible."

"Yeah?" Steve says, passing Jones to look around the barricade. "And how's that going?"

"We sent a breach team onto The Chafee," she says. "Twenty minutes later, they come back out, shooting at _us_!"

"The super onboard is the one I'm after," Steve tells her, pulling an extra headband from the clip on his belt. "She's controlling people somehow. We're going to put a stop to it."

"You and what army?" she asks, taking the headband. "What's this?"

Steve points to the headband on his own head. "Put that on. It'll protect your brain from the super."

"God damn supers," Jones scoffs, pulling the headband down onto her head with a frown. "How many of these bad boys do you got?"

"Not enough to go around," Steve says, looking around the barricade again, already working on plans of attack. He turns to Lori, Kono, and Lou. "Kono? Can you tell which ship Danny's on?"

Consulting her tablet for a moment, Kono nods. "It's a quarter mile that way," she says, holding out her tablet so the others can see. 

Captain Jones says, "That's the Port Royal. She's a cruiser. Luckily after the first alarm, we got all of the submarines under before they were attacked. We moved the rest of the ships away from harbor, but they're still taking control of them. We're not quite sure how they're making an approach without being seen."

"They've got teleportation," Steve explains. "I need blueprints of that boat."

With a scoff, Jones says, "If you hadn't noticed, we're a little busy."

"Steve, I've got them," says Kono, pulling up the blueprints on her tablet. Captain Jones raises her eyebrow at Kono, then Steve, probably offended Kono has classified information so readily at hand. "What do you need?"

Steve takes the tablet, studying the blueprints for a moment before tilting them toward the others. "I can get onto the boat without being seen, especially if you distract them, Kono. Think you can fly fast enough to avoid being shot?"

"Not a problem," Kono says with a decisive nod. 

Steve turns toward Lori, "I want you to scout around. Try to figure out where this Sister person is. If you think you can take her out safely, do it. If we're lucky, the fighting might end once she's dead."

"Okay," Lori says, almost enough confidence in her voice to be reassuring. 

"Lou," Steve says, turning to the last remaining member of his team. "I want you here on shore, protecting these troops as best you can. If any supers try to make a run for it, I want you to stop them." "By any means necessary?" Lou asks, raising his eyebrows and crossing his arms over his chest. 

"Non-lethal if you can," Steve insists. "Everything we know suggests that all but one of the people coming after us today is doing it unwillingly."

"Got it," Lou replies with a nod.

Steve turns back toward the blueprints, studying them and trying to decide on his best approach. His phone rings. Steve glances at the screen and almost drops the phone. "Hey, it's Danny! Guys it's Danny!" Steve connects the call, meeting Lori's worried eyes. "Danny?"

"Hey," Danny says, his voice quiet. Steve plugs his other ear to help him hear better. "We've only got a second before Sister comes back. You heard about what's going down at Pearl?"

"Yeah, we're here, Danny," Steve replies, looking over the barricade and at the Port Royal, even though there's no way he'd be able to see Danny from this far away. "About a quarter mile from your position."

"Good." Danny sighs. He sounds tired, and Steve yearns to go wrap Danny up in his arms. "Look, I think I can take Sister down, but I'm gonna need some help."

Steve thinks he should probably be trying to figure out whether or not Danny's acting under his own willpower, but he's so goddamned relieved to hear Danny's voice, he can't bother to care about anything else. "Whatever you need, Danno. I got it for you."

Chuckling in a low voice, Danny murmurs, "Such a sweet-talker."

Steve's grinning, almost too hard, knowing this could be the last time he talks to Danny. "Tell me what you need."

"Barring a sniper in prime position to take Sister out?" Danny sighs. "More boots on the ground. Or on the _ship_. She's got half the Navy working for her now."

"Yeah, we noticed," Steve says. "What are you going to do?"

Danny sighs. "I'm going to kill her. I mean, that's all I can do, right? The only way to end this?"

"Gotta do what you gotta do," Steve replies. "Be careful."

"Oh, that's rich, coming from you, Aquaman."

Steve smiles. "I go by _Mano_ , actually."

"Yeah, yeah." Danny sighs again. "You know, when this is all over, if we're both still alive, you're going to owe me so much Mano-a-Danno time."

"Yeah, I–"

"Shit," Danny interrupts. "Gotta go. Big distraction. Ten minutes. Thanks, babe."

The line goes dead and Steve is left looking at it for a moment before he gets the nerve to turn toward the others. "Sister is on The Port Royal with Danny. He needs help."

"How do you want to do that, Boss?" Kono asks, clenching and unclenching her fists. Steve figures she's itching for a fight as much as he is.

"Same plan for me and Lou. Kono, do you think you'll be able to drop Lori onto the ship without getting either of you hit?" Steve asks.

Kono looks over at Lori, sizing her up, and turns back to Steve. "Yeah. I can do it."

"Good." Steve looks around the barricade one more time. "It's going to take me a few minutes to get out there. Give me ten, and then you two go. Oh, and Lou?"

"What do you need, Steve?" Lou asks, his eyes deeply sincere. 

Steve lets out a breath, preparing himself for what he has to do. "See what you can do about causing an explosion at that time. Ten minutes from now. Have Jones and her people help you."

"Got it." Lou's grim smile makes Steve miss the way Danny would've argued with Steve. Whatever else happens today, Steve has got to get Danny back.

He asks what's left of his team, "Everyone know what they're doing?"

There are nods all around, so Steve takes a deep breath, letting it out and giving them a decisive nod back. "Okay. Let's move out."


	10. Time Bomb

Danny waits as best he can, trying not to appear as twitchy and anxious as he feels, waiting for his opportunity. At least Sister hasn't sent Danny away. This will only work if Danny is close enough to touch her when the time comes.

He trades glances with Chin and Catherine when he can, making sure they're ready to act as well. They haven't been able to work out much more than a rudimentary plan, and Danny hopes that's all they'll need.

One of the normals under Sister's control, the captain of the ship, stands right next to Sister, briefing her on the movements of her ships versus the ones still controlled by the navy. "The enemy appear to be holding back their firepower," he says, looking out over the harbor. "In my estimation, the leadership may not want to sink the ships they've invested so much money in."

Sister smirks. "That pride will be their downfall. Once we have enough firepower, it'll be easy to destroy them, and then conquer these islands. Hmm," Sister pauses, tapping her finger against her chin, "I really should have someone look into designing a flag. The Arata Islands. What do you think of that name? It's my surname, you know."

"It's lovely, ma'am," replies the captain.

Danny tries not to gag. Of course this lady would want to conquer the Hawaiian Islands, and then name them after herself. She's like all the worst bits of humanity all stuck together in one person. Danny can't wait to drain her dry, but he knows he needs that distraction Steve is supposed to supply.

The wait is a few minutes longer, full of hearing damage reports and listening to Sister's insane comments about how everyone will be better off once they all worship her. And then it happens. A large explosion on the shore sends a massive fireball into the air. Sister and the captain lean toward the windows to get a better look, and Danny nods to first Chin, then Catherine.

Chin grabs both Ice Raven and Blue Streak and 'ports them away while Danny lunges for sister, getting his arm around her neck and pulling her down into a choke hold. _Hate_ rolls off Sister in waves so strong that Danny has to grit his teeth not to stagger.

Still, Danny's used to handling hate. He feels it from almost every perp he's handled in his long career in law enforcement. The longer he holds onto Sister, the more emotions he feels. Pride. Disgust. Excitement. There's absolutely no sadness or compassion, but Danny doesn't have time to dwell on that oddity, because he's trying to get Sister unconscious as quickly as possible. He takes and takes and takes energy from Sister, and she keeps struggling. When the captain of the ship makes as if to knock Danny away from Sister, Catherine kicks him right in the face.

"Cath, don't look at her," Danny warns her, finally becoming aware that she's still in the room with them. He can't let Catherine fall back under Sister's control. Why won't she pass out already? "Just watch my back. Okay, Catherine?"

Her voice strained and choked off, Sister says, "She doesn't _have_ to look at me. I can take her from anywhere."

Danny feels his brain cells straining under the weight of Sister's power, just as he sees Catherine's face go blank. "Oh, no you don't!" he cries.

Keeping his hold around Sister's neck, Danny lunges toward Catherine, grabbing her ankle and healing her brain (as well as his own), as fast as Sister can harm it. Catherine doesn't make any move to hurt Danny, but she doesn't seem able to help him either, and the captain of the ship is getting to his feet.

Danny can't handle both Catherine and the captain _and_ sister all by himself, so he does the first thing he can think of and drains Catherine to the point of unconsciousness. She crumples to the ground just as the captain reaches Danny. Danny grabs him and drains him, too.

"You can't fucking take them if they're not awake," Danny tells Sister, his muscles straining to keep holding her as she tries to get away. She's stronger than average, but not super strong, so he can hold onto her. She's just not running out of energy the way she should be. "Why won't you die?"

"Why won't you accept me as your _God_?" Sister cries, scratching at Danny's forearm with sharp nails. Danny's pulling so much life-force out of Sister, that his wounds heal as soon as she makes them.

"Funny thing about your power," Danny tells her, pulling one of Sister's arms behind her back and using his weight to flip her and pin her to the ground. "You get people to follow you by damaging their brains. I heal. That's my thing. That's what I do. You can't hurt me for long."

For the second time in as many hours, Danny feels like he's going to explode out of his skin. He tightens his grip on Sister, cutting off her airway and the blood supply to her brain. Fear creeps into her emotional landscape, and Danny wants to revel in it. That fear means he's winning. But he can't enjoy Sister's fear, because he feels it as his own.

Danny's afraid, and even though he's the kind of guy who's always kind of afraid, in the back of his mind, this is different. Danny's afraid he's never going to be able to pull enough energy from Sister. He's afraid if he fails here and now, there won't be anyone left who's capable of stopping Sister from taking over first Hawaii, and then the rest of the world. 

If Danny doesn't take Sister down now, how many more innocent people are going to die?

So he pulls more energy from her. Danny feels like his skin is on fire from trying to contain it all. Every inch of his body, from his scalp, all the way down to the soles of his feet, _aches_. Danny's never tested the limits of how much energy he could draw at a single time. There's never been a person, or group of people, large enough or powerful enough to get him to this level of overdrawn.

Finally, Sister starts to sag in Danny's arms. She stops fighting. She stops breathing.

Sister's heart stops beating.

Danny's ears are full of static and his eyes feel like they're about to bulge out of their sockets, but he can still feel Sister in her body.

She's angry. Cold. Despondent. Lonely. Afraid. Sad.

That touch of sadness almost makes Danny stop and grant her mercy. Before he makes up his mind, Sister's emotions vanish. The last flickers of brain activity stop.

She's dead.

Danny looks up and Chin is there, his hands hovering a few feet away from Danny. His tongue thick, Danny tells Chin, "She's dead."

Chin's brow creases, and he says, "Danny, you're glowing."

The phrase strikes Danny as odd to use in this situation. Danny has just killed a person. It's not the first time he's had to do it, and it probably won't be the last, but usually when he has to use force to stop a perp, he can deliver them to the hospital still alive.

Not this time. 

Danny lets go of Sister's corpse, rolling away from it, every inch of his skin hot and burning as it hits the floor. He plants his hand onto the floor to help push him up, and he realizes Chin is right. Danny's skin is _literally_ glowing. Danny looks up at Chin astonished, and confesses, "I feel like I'm going to split in two."

"What's going on?" Chin asks, reaching for Danny and pulling him to his feet. Danny feels a fraction of his energy drain into Chin, healing anything and everything that could possibly wrong with him.

It's not enough. Shaking his head, Danny tells Chin as much. "It's not enough. Chin, I took too much! I have…" Danny gasps for breath, the weight of the power pressing in on his lungs. He feels a million times larger than his body. "Too much life-force. Too much energy. I think I'm going to explode."

"Figuratively?" Chin asks, raising an eyebrow even as he drops down to take Catherine's pulse.

Danny can taste Catherine's pulse from here. It's strong and even.

He can feel everyone. Lori's on the ship. So is Kono. So is _Steve_.

Urgency clawing at the back of his throat, Danny grabs Chin and tells him, " _Literally_! I am literally going to explode. There's too many people… you have to get me out of here!"

"Danny, you're not–" Chin starts to say, but Danny feels a pulse of energy escape his control. Danny's skin glows brighter with a flash, and a shock wave pushes Chin against the ship's controls.

Danny meets Chin's eyes and holds out his hand. "Chin, _please_! I can't get far enough away fast enough on my own!"

It takes a few seconds, but eventually Chin caves. He grabs Danny's hand and _pulls_ him through non-space, and then they're falling no more than a few feet into the water. Danny surfaces, and he can still see the mouth of Pearl Harbor, but they're far enough out to sea that anything short of a nuclear explosion won't reach land.

Danny prays to God that he's not about to go nuclear.

Chin surfaces just as another shock wave escapes Danny's control. The wave pushes Chin away from Danny, but he stubbornly swims back. "Danny! You've got to hold on! Get this under control!"

The pressure builds again, and Danny knows there's no way he can hold it back for longer than a few seconds. Shaking his head, Danny pushes at Chin, getting a flare of Chin's worry and grief. "No! You gotta get out of here."

"Danny!" Chin's brows are furrowed in that way that Danny has only really seen when Malia was killed. 

"You gotta go," Danny begs him. "Tell Grace, and Steve, and Lori, and everyone that I love them!"

The next pulse slips from Danny's grasp and buries Chin in a wall of water. Danny doesn't even wait to make sure Chin surfaces. He can tell Chin is still conscious, and that's good enough. Instead, Danny turns toward the ocean and starts swimming.

He swims faster than he ever has before, partly because of all the extra power in his body, and partly because he can't be the reason why Chin Ho Kelly dies. Danny has to get as far away from Chin as fast as possible. There's another wave of power surging just under Danny's skin, rattling his teeth and tearing at his bones. Danny doesn't feel like he's going to survive this one.

Everyone else should, though. He'll make sure of it.

Danny swims.

~*~

As soon as Steve breaks away from the other members of his team, he makes his way toward the water. There's some fighting he has to avoid as he strips out of his civvies, but soon enough he's down to his wet suit and ready to dive into the water.

It's low tide, so the distance between the end of the dock and the surface of the water is about thirty feet, but Steve doesn't have time to climb a ladder. Danny's in trouble, and he needs help. Any boats that would try to approach the battleship would be spotted, and probably blown out of the water. No, Steve has to swim this manually.

It's a good thing he's a natural swimmer.

Steve's fingers slice through the water as he hits it, parting the surface tension and allowing the rest of his body to slip in without so much as a splash. He takes a deep breath to fill his lungs with water, and as much as it feels like coming home, the water tastes like war. It's full of gunpowder and diesel exhaust, but it doesn't prevent Steve from swimming through it toward the Port Royal.

As fast a swimmer as Steve is (Steve's fairly certain he could beat Manta for the world record if he tried), it still takes a few minutes of _hard_ swimming to get to the ship, and another to navigate around it (and its propellers), to get himself into position to climb aboard. He's got a length of rope in his pack, and it should get him up the side of the ship, near the stern, provided he can loop it around the railings without anyone aboard noticing.

The whole time he's been swimming, Steve's been counting down the minutes in his head. It's been close to ten, so Steve treads water right next to the stationary ship, his rope at the ready and his lungs switched back over to air. 

And _there's_ the explosion he's been waiting for. Steve throws the rope up over the railing, and the heavy, knotted end swings around and back out the side of the ship. Steve feeds enough rope that the knot falls far enough for him to grab it and tie a slip knot. He pulls on the rope, fast and hard until the knot fastens around the railing, and then he pulls himself up the rope as fast as he can.

There are sailors on the ship, hellbent on defending it, so Steve wastes no time incapacitating them. None of them are super powered, and as long as Steve's smart about how fast he makes his way through the ship, he doesn't end up getting shot by any of them before he's able to disarm them and zip tie their hands behind their backs.

As he rounds the other side of the deck, Steve sees a sailor fall, apparently of his own accord. "Lori," he calls out. "I'm heading for the bridge. Keep an eye on things out here!"

"Got it!" her voice yells back, from somewhere over in that direction. Steve vaults up onto the higher decks, heading for the bridge. He's almost there when a bright flash from the bridge is followed by a shock wave that rocks the boat and nearly knocks Steve off his feet.

Kono lands just behind Steve, but he doesn't bother to greet her in his haste to get up to the bridge. Danny needs help, so Steve has got to get there.

Steve's at the door when he sees Chin and a bright, glowing Danny disappear. Steve turns, almost running into Kono. "Where'd they go?" He turns back toward the room, noticing the three bodies on the floor. One of them is Catherine, so Steve drops down next to her to make sure she's alive.

"Where'd who go?" Kono asks, following Steve into the room and watching with wide eyes as Steve takes Catherine's pulse.

It's evenly-paced, and strong, so Steve figures Catherine is alright. "Danny and Chin," Steve explains, checking on the naval Captain lying nearby Catherine. "They just 'ported out of here."

"I don't know," Kono says, touching her earpiece to turn it on. "Unseen, you got Kipa or 'Ike in your sights?" She approaches the third body, Sister's, carefully, pressing her fingers to the woman's throat.

"What does Lori say?" Steve asks, picking up Catherine and pillowing her head in his lap. "Does she see them?"

Kono shakes her head. "No. And Sister is dead." Kono takes her hand away and wipes it on her jacket. "Want me to get a bird's-eye view?"

"Yeah," Steve says, clenching his jaw with worry. If Sister is dead, where would they have gone? Steve reaches for his own earpiece, when he realizes he doesn't have one. He stops Kono with a hand on her arm. "You still carry an extra," he points to his ear, "for me?"

"Gotcha covered, boss," Kono says, snapping open one of her jacket pockets and pulling out an earpiece and transceiver. She tosses them to Steve as she heads out the door and up into the air.

Steve sticks the earpiece in, turns it on, and says, "Unseen? Is the boat secure?"

"I've gotta do a final sweep, but I think so," Lori replies. "The sailors stopped fighting. Most of them are pretty woozy."

"Well, the target is dead," Steve says with a sigh. "Maybe her death has broken the brainwashing."

"Let's hope so."

Lou's voice hops onto the line, and he says, "Fighting's all died down here on shore, as well. People are definitely starting to come out of it." He scoffs. "God, what a mess."

A moment later, the connection fills with something like static, but Kono shouts over the noise (wind, Steve realizes), "I got nothing, Boss. There are so many people around, I just don't–"

"Don't what?" Steve asks, suddenly very concerned. "Kono, what?"

She cries out, "Holy shit," just before a blast thunders through the harbor, echoing everywhere and making the boat tilt toward the island.

Before Steve can ask what Kono sees, Chin 'ports back into the bridge, soaking-wet and gasping. 

"I got Chin!" Steve tells the others, reaching out to steady Chin before he falls on his face. "Kono, you okay?"

Kono's affirmative in his ear is overshadowed by Chin grabbing Steve. "It's Danny. He's in the water."

"Is he alright?" Steve asks, carefully moving Catherine's head back to the floor and standing up. "Chin, what happened? Is Danny alright?"

Chin's eyes are wide as he shakes his head. "That blast," his gaze cuts out the windows.

Steve's heart drops and his whole body clenches with terror. "Danny was in the blast?"

"Danny _was_ the blast," Chin says. "He made me leave him in the water. You have to help me find him!"

Steve still doesn't understand what Chin means by "Danny was the blast", but he cares much more about finding Danny. Grasping Chin tightly, Steve pulls out his earpiece and lets it drop to the floor. "Take me to him."

A second later, they're in the water just south of the entrance to Pearl Harbor. Chin surfaces with a struggling gasp. He points over Steve's shoulder and says, "Last I saw, he was swimming that way."

Chin's face slips under the water, so Steve pulls him up again. "Can you get yourself back to land?"

Eyes closed, Chin nods. "Yeah, but I want to help find Danny."

"You can barely tread water," Steve tells Chin, staring at him until he opens his eyes and meets Steve's gaze. "Get yourself to dry land. That's an order."

The staring contest between the two of them lasts longer than Steve knows they have time for, but he can't lose Chin. Not with Danny missing. With a final nod, Chin disappears, water flowing into the gap where his body used to be.

Steve turns away from the island and dives underwater. His eyes and lungs adjust seamlessly, and he tastes the water for any trace of Danny as he swims. There's less pollution from the Navy ships out here, but catching a whiff of Danny's particular scent is still going to be difficult. Steve's nickname might be that of a shark's, but that doesn't mean he has all the senses of a shark.

He forces his pupils to contract, which sharpens his vision, and he searches for Danny as he swims. Stroke after stroke, kick after kick, Steve can't forget what Chin said. Danny _was_ the blast. What if there's nothing left for Steve to find?

Even if Danny's body is still whole, the longer it takes to find him under here, the worse chances he has of making it out of this alive. 

The clinging fear that Danny's already dead makes Steve's movements through the water jerky and panicked. He takes a deep breath of seawater and lets it out, trying to calm himself, or at least push away the emotions.

Steve is a trained Navy SEAL. He knows how to do this. He has to forget about everything except completing the mission: find Danny.

On his next deep breath, Steve catches a slight familiar taste. He sniffs in a few different directions before finding the trail and following it. He dives after it, and a few more yards down, he sees a flash of color against the white sand ocean floor.

Kicking hard, Steve propels himself downward, and yes, that flash of color was Danny. He's drifting, limp against the ocean floor, his clothes in tatters, his skin split up and down his arms and legs, like he was ripped apart at the seams.

The tears in Danny's flesh don't heal at all by the time Steve grabs Danny from the sand and holds him tightly, swimming both of them to the surface.

"God, please, Danny," Steve begs, holding Danny's face above the water as he presses his ear to Danny's chest. The deep thum-thump of Danny's heart is absent, his body silent and lifeless. "Danny!"

Steve takes a deep gulp of air and seals his mouth over Danny's, pinching Danny's nose closed. He forces two sharp breaths into Danny's lungs, and then starts towing him toward the shore, which is much too far away.

Water dribbles out of Danny's mouth, and another breath of air forces more of the water out, but Danny's still not breathing, and his heart is still silent. 

"God damn it, Danny!" Steve cries, holding Danny's back against his chest and getting his hands locked over Danny's sternum. Steve is strong enough to do chest compressions this way, so that's what he tries, pumping Danny's heart for him while kicking desperately to keep Danny's head above water. "Come on, Danny! Come on!"

The sound of a small boat motor nearby draws Steve's attention. The boat is heading in his general direction, so Steve puts two fingers in his mouth and gives a sharp whistle. He pulls Danny with one arm and puts the other up, waving and trying to get the boat's attention. 

As the boat gets closer, Steve sees Chin at the wheel, Kono right beside him. Steve meets them as Chin turns the broad side of the boat toward him, Kono reaching over the edge for Danny. "He's not breathing!" Steve tells her as he helps boost Danny up into the boat. "No pulse, either."

Kono's already on it, getting Danny flat against the deck of the boat and starting compressions, fast and hard. 

Steve tells Chin, "Get us to land, and someone call for an ambulance to meet us."

Chin picks up the radio and starts sending a distress call as he turns the boat back toward the island. 

Turning his attention back toward Danny, Steve gets Danny's airway more open and blows more air into his lungs while Kono continues to do compressions. "Come on, Danno."

"You can do this, Danny," Kono says, panting as she keeps the compressions going. "You can heal. You _have_ to heal."

Danny's so pale, his lips so blue, that Steve can't hold back the sob that escapes him. He gives Danny another breath, wipes away his tears, and then goes back for another. It's an awful imitation of the kisses he's shared with Danny, and Steve doesn't know how much longer he can do this. "Please, Danny. Please?"

He smooths back Danny's hair, traces his thumb over Danny's cheek, his lips, his raspy chin. God, how has Steve not realized until this week how _much_ he loves Danny? Steve is capable of breathing in air and in water, and he still feels like he can't breathe. What if this is it? What if Danny is dead? 

Steve hasn't had nearly enough time with him! 

When Steve looks up, Kono and Chin are switching places, Chin taking over compressions while Kono steers the boat. Steve pushes another lungful of breath into Danny's lungs, and then kisses his lifeless lips. He presses a kiss to Danny's cheek, to his forehead, to his closed eyelid. "I love you, Danno," he whispers into Danny's ear. "Grace loves you. We all love you. C'mon. Fight for us, Danny!"

There's still nothing. Steve shares a look with Chin, whose eyes are red-rimmed and watery. 

"We're not giving up on him," Steve insists. "He can heal anything." He looks down at Danny. "You hear that? You can heal anything." He picks up Danny's limp hand and puts it against his own chest. "See? Feel that? That's how much I love you. That's how much I believe in you. Come on!"

"Coming up on the docks!" Kono cries over her shoulder.

Steve gives Danny two more breaths before looking over the bow. Lou's waiting at the edge of the docks with a pair of EMTs, their ambulance parked a few dozen yards back in the marina. He ducks down and tells Danny, "See? We got you back to shore. We'll get you to the hospital, Danno. It'll be okay. You're going to be okay."

As soon as Kono pulls the boat alongside the dock, the EMTs jump in, pushing Steve out of the way. Kono's the one that gives the EMTs the relevant information. Steve's too stunned to do more than watch as they start attaching Danny to a backboard. With Chin and Lou's help, they lift Danny out of the boat and onto a stretcher, one of the EMTs climbing atop Danny to keep giving him compressions.

A gentle touch on Steve's arm draws his attention to Kono. "C'mon, Boss. Let's get ourselves to the hospital."

Even though he nods and gives Kono a ghost of a smile, all the hope drains out of Steve's body. Danny went down in warm water after literally exploding. They performed CPR on him for over ten minutes, and still didn't get a pulse. What more can medicine do for Danny, if he isn't even healing himself? 

Danny has slipped away. It's only a matter of time before everyone else also realizes it.


	11. The Aftermath

Max must have standing above Steve for quite awhile, but Steve doesn't notice him until the sound of Max clearing his throat breaks him out of his thoughts. Looking up, Steve says softly, "Hey, Max."

"Commander." Max frowns with a sympathetic tilt of his head. "Steve."

Steve turns back to Danny's body, Danny's cold hand folded into his own. Steve thinks he should probably let go. He's been sitting here like this for hours, but he can't quite make himself leave.

With a sigh, Max says, "You know you're welcome to stay as long as you need to, Steve, but…"

Max sounds tired. It's probably late. Without looking away from Danny's still face, Steve says, "Go home, Max. I just need a little more time."

After a long moment of silence, Max stutters, "O-of course. Just make sure to lock up when you leave."

Steve looks away from Danny long enough to give Max a grateful smile. "I promise."

Max nods and gives Danny his own sad look before turning and leaving.

Steve sighs and lays his head down onto his forearm, resting against the morgue table on which Danny's body is lying. He says, "I guess it's just you and me, buddy."

It seemed like Steve was dried out of tears hours ago, but he finds his sleeve gets damp the longer he rests his eyes against it. The tears are just this constant thing, and Steve doesn't know how to stop them. He laughs and tells Danny, "You'd make such fun of me, Danny. Sitting here, crying like a baby."

With a sniff, Steve wipes his face on his sleeve and looks around the otherwise empty morgue. Sniffing again, Steve says, "I don't know if you remember, but Lori was here earlier. She sat with you while I spoke to the Governor, and the brass at Pearl. She's a wreck. I mean, everyone is."

Steve takes his left hand away from the back of Danny's hand, scratching his nails back through his own hair. He's still covered in salt from the ocean water, but Steve doesn't care how irritated his skin gets. Sitting here with Danny is more important than the five minutes it would take to shower off and get redressed. Sighing, he tells Danny, "Of all of us, you were the one who wasn't supposed to die." Steve sniffs again.

"Damn it, Danny! Do you know how much time we were supposed to have together? Our whole goddamn lives, and then some." Steve clenches his jaw and shifts in his chair. "You were supposed to be _it_ for me, Danny. I know, I know what you'd say. You'd say I'm being stupid, because we _just_ got together. How could I know that I wanted to be with you forever?

" _Because_ ," Steve says, staring at the slope of Danny's nose, the way his eyelashes are perfectly still against his cheek. "You're the best friend I've ever had, Danny. Of all the people I've ever met, of all the people I've ever been with, you're the only one I ever really trusted to stick around for the long haul."

Steve scoffs. "I guess I should've known better, huh?"

His muscles are starting to cramp, but Steve can't bring himself to let go of Danny's hand. It feels like as soon as he does let go, Danny will really be dead. Still, the kink in Steve's shoulder is starting to throb. He scoots his chair closer to the table and turns it, rotating Danny's wrist and forearm until Steve's in a more comfortable position.

It occurs to Steve that it shouldn't have been that easy to move Danny's arm. "Where's your rigor mortis?" Steve asks Danny, like Danny's going to respond to him. Steve looks at his watch, and tells Danny, "It's late. You've been dead for almost ten hours. You should be as stiff as a board."

Confused, Steve moves Danny's hand around a little more, and it's just as easy to move as if he'd been sleeping. 

"Danny?"

Steve stands up and looks down at Danny's face. He's just as still as ever, but Steve can't let go of the possibility. Steve takes the thumb of his free hand and pulls at Danny's eyelid. The eye beneath is completely dilated, and doesn't react to the light above the table, but it's shiny, not cloudy and dried out like it should be. "Danny, come on. Fight for me, babe."

For a moment, Steve thinks that he's going crazy. Danny's dead. He's a dead super. Everyone knows super bodies don't always behave the same as normal bodies. It's a fact that has hindered Five-0's investigations more than once. 

A sense of hopeless exhaustion floods through Steve, and he tries to tell himself that there's still hope, that he should just give it one more hour. Another hour, and Steve will be able to justify leaving Danny here alone. The exhaustion doesn't wane, and Steve almost bargains himself down to another half hour, when he realizes the exhausted and hopeless feelings aren't his. 

They're Danny's feelings. Danny's soul or whatever is still in there.

"No, don't give up," Steve says, crouching down to press a kiss to Danny's cold cheek and whisper in his ear. "I'm right here with you, Danny. I feel you in there. Can you feel me, squeezing your hand? I'm right here."

_Confusion_.

_Pain_.

"You're hurt. You have to heal," Steve whispers. "I need you to survive this, Danny." Steve brushes his free hand back over Danny's hair. The joints of his hands and arms ache, but he ignores the pain. It doesn't matter the way Danny matters. 

Steve feels a pulling through his hand, and suddenly he realizes why his arms ache. "Yeah, that's good," he tells Danny. "Take whatever you need from me, Danny. Whatever you need to wake up."

_No._

"Yes, Danny. Please, do it," Steve replies, touching his forehead to Danny's temple. "You know how strong I am. You're not going to hurt me."

A few seconds later, Steve feels that pull through his hand again. The edges of Steve's vision go gray and his knees buckle, but still he holds onto Danny's hand. Steve's body knows something is wrong, and makes his heart rate skyrocket to compensate. Sweat breaks out all over Steve's body, and he's panting, trying to pull enough air to keep going.

Danny pulls more and Steve's whole body feels like it's on fire. He swallows the groan of pain he wants to give out, and keeps going. He's got to keep doing this for Danny.

Suddenly, the pull stops, and Danny's hand spreads wide, letting go of Steve's hand. Steve struggles to his feet, hands on the morgue table as he pulls himself up. "Danny?"

Danny's eyes are still closed, but his chest is rising and falling. When Steve puts his ear to Danny's chest, he gets a shock, and a little more of his life-force drains away, but it's worth it to be able to hear Danny's heartbeat.

For a second, Steve's not sure what to do, but then he realizes he's not going to take any chances with Danny's health. Steve takes his phone out of his pocket, and calls dispatch. "This is McGarrett, Five-0. I need an ambulance at the ME's office."

"What's the nature of the emergency?" the dispatch officer asks.

Steve sighs with relief, and says, "Detective Williams isn't as dead as we thought. We need to get him back to the hospital."

The dispatcher pauses for a second. "O-okay."

Steve tucks his phone between his shoulder and his ear and pushes Danny's table toward the main entrance of the building. "And tell the EMTs to use their heavy-duty gloves. Danny's not safe for anyone to touch right now."

"I'll make sure the techs we send have been fully versed in Five-0 protocols," the dispatcher replies. 

As Steve waits, he tips the microphone of his cell away from his mouth and murmurs to Danny. "Just a little while longer, Danno. We'll get you patched up, make sure you're not in pain. The docs are gonna take good care of you, baby. And once you're all better, I'm going to take you home, and put you in my bed and make sure you never, ever leave it."

Danny lets out a stronger breath of air, the edge of his mouth just barely twitching upward. 

"Oh, you like that idea, huh?" Steve asks with a laugh. He presses his luck, putting his hand over Danny's sheet-covered thigh. Danny drains a little more of Steve's energy, but it doesn't hurt this time, so Steve bears with it, giving Danny all that he's got. 

~*~

When Danny wakes up, something's pulling funny at his chest hair and there's something else weird in his nostrils. He tries to move his hand to his face, but finds that something pulls at his hand, too.

"Hey, shhh," says an unfamiliar voice as Danny squeezes his eyes shut against the bright stabs of light assaulting his eyes. "Detective Williams, you're in the hospital, alright? Can you be calm?"

Oh. Hospital. That makes sense. 

Danny nods as he blinks and gets his eyes open. The voice is a nurse, a local girl who holds out a cup with a straw. Danny trustingly takes a sip, because his throat is painfully dry.

Once Danny has taken a few sips, he pulls away and clears his throat. Looking to the other side of his bed, he sees Steve, sacked out in the reclining chair next to him. Danny turns back to the nurse and asks, "How long?"

"You've been in the hospital almost two days, Detective Williams," she says softly, setting down the cup and reaching toward Danny to adjust the things in his nose. "We've got you on a high-dose sucrose IV, and high-flow oxygen to support the metabolism you need during healing. You crashed out on us a couple times before we got that trick figured out." She gives Danny a calm smile. "Oh, and please try not to heal through the needle. We've had to give you five new ones already."

Danny looks down at the needle in his hand and shrugs. Then he nods over at Steve. "He been here the whole time?"

"Almost. Your big friend, Captain Grover, was here for a few hours this morning when my shift started." The nurse makes a few notes on her tablet before stowing it back in a large pocket of her scrubs coat. "My name's Kalea. Just let me know if you need anything."

"Yeah. Will do," Danny replies as she leaves. His voice is hoarse, probably because he hasn't used it in days. 

Danny can't ever remember a time when he's been in the hospital, as a patient, for more than a few hours. There was that one time he took a bullet in the chest, and he was too weak to push it out of his still-beating heart, so the surgeons had to fish it out. That time, Danny had been home in time for dinner. When Rachel found out, she'd gone ballistic and taken Grace to a hotel for the night.

Two _days_?

Danny has been out of it for two whole days? What happened? Has Grace seen him like this?

Fuck this. Danny needs answers. He calls out, "Steve! Hey, wake up!"

Steve snores, making no indication he'd heard Danny at all. Danny wants to be annoyed at Steve, but he finds he can't be. It's all overridden with his affection for Steve. The stupid goof obviously hasn't gone home to sleep, probably since the night he and Danny spent together in LA. What an adorable asshole.

Well, if Steve won't wake up, Danny might as well give into the exhausted feeling pulling his eyelids back down.

The next time Danny wakes, someone's carding their fingers through his hair. Danny opens his eyes, and he has to admit he's disappointed to see his sister there, instead of Steve. "Hey," Danny says to Lori, giving her the best smile he's capable of at the moment. 

"Hey," Lori replies, returning Danny's smile. "How are you feeling?"

Danny shrugs. "Tired. Where'd Steve go?"

"Just home to shower and shave." Lori smirks, pressing her hand playfully against Danny's shoulder. "You _miss_ him."

Danny grins and flips Lori the bird. Pushing himself up, Danny smacks his lips together and asks, "So what happened?"

Brow creasing, Lori asks, "What do you remember?"

Danny closes his eyes and tries to think. His ability to call up memories is pretty shot, probably by whatever put him in the hospital. He remembers some things, fuzzily. "I think I remember swimming," he says. "And..." Danny clenches his hands reflexively. "Fighting. I remember fighting her. Is she dead?"

Lori nods. "Abigail Arata died three days ago. You–"

"I killed her," Danny says with a sad, but righteous nod. "Yeah, I remember that now. Afterward I..." Danny remembers pain. He remembered desperately trying to get away from everyone before he caused something bad to happen. He remembers Chin was there, in danger. "Is Chin okay?"

"He's fine," Lori insists. She pulls her phone out of her pocket. "He's going to stop by around lunch time."

"Then I was in the water," Danny says, trying to recall more, but failing. "I don't remember. I was swimming..." Danny throws his hands wide in frustration, looking to his sister. "What happened?"

Lori hesitates, giving Danny a sad look, but no answers. What the hell is she hiding?

"Tell me what happened, Lori," Danny demands. His voice isn't as forceful as he would like, but the exhaustion is sapping some of his normal vigor. "Tell me."

Sniffing and brushing a tear off her eyelashes, Lori looks at Danny's blankets as she says says, "You died! Okay, Danny? You exploded and drowned and even after Steve pulled you up, they couldn't–" She huffs and meets Danny's eyes. "You didn't have a heartbeat for over ten hours. Everyone thought you were dead."

"Ten..." Danny mutters, frowning down at his hands. He has this vague memory of cold metal against his back, and Steve's hand in his. "He held my hand," Danny tells Lori. "I was...losing. Slipping. But Steve held my hand. Gave me some of his life."

"I'm sure you'll return the favor sooner or later," Lori says, bending down to press a kiss to Danny's forehead. She feels like _love_ , _relief_ , and _amusement_. 

Danny finds himself accidentally drawing energy through the kiss. He stops himself and says, "Sorry. I didn't mean to–"

"It's okay, Danny," Lori assures him with a pat on his cheek. "We've all been taking turns." Lori puts her hand over Danny's heart and holds it there. "Helping you heal. Steve's done the brunt of it, in here holding your hand all the time, letting you siphon energy away from him like a creepy vampire or something."

" _You're_ the creepy vampire," Danny says in an off-hand way, because she's his sister. Still, he's touched that all of his friends put themselves in harm's way for him. He puts his hand over Lori's, and says, "Thank you."

Lori smiles at Danny, proud.

Danny basks in his sister's pride, but he's exhausted. He doesn't think he's ever felt this tired for this long before. Before he can tell Lori that he might need to take another nap, or three, the sound of footsteps draws Danny's attention to the door.

Steve walks into the room like he's on a mission, though he stops short when he sees Danny's awake. A bright grin spreads across his face and then he's taking four long strides until he's at Danny's side. "You're up."

"Back from the dead," Danny replies with a cheeky grin. "Literally."

Steve chuckles, but looks away, like he's trying to hide his expression from Danny. As Danny tries to figure out why that might be, Lori says, "Okay, well I'm going to go check in on some of the others. The supers who were under Arata's power the longest have some fairly severe brain damage. It's not pretty."

She walks out of the room with a final wave and Danny says to Steve, "I wish I was strong enough to help them recover. Doctors know zilch about the brain."

"You died for them once already," Steve says, putting his hand on the bar of Danny's bed, but not actually touching Danny. "I'd think you'd be satisfied with that for now."

Danny doesn't have to touch Steve to read the worry and grief on his face. Shit. "Hey. Steve, babe. I'm okay now. I'm not going anywhere."

Sighing, Steve leans on Danny's bed. He looks away as he says, "You weren't the one sitting in the morgue, holding his dead partner's hand, unable to let go."

Danny reaches for Steve, wrapping his fingers around Steve's wrist. Steve's feeling sadness and relief in equal measures, and Danny's heart just aches for Steve. "While that is a pretty fucked up thing to do–" 

Steve huffs and opens his mouth, but Danny brings up his free hand to let Steve know he's not finished.

"While it was fucked up, I'm glad you did it," Danny says, squeezing Steve's wrist, and then letting Steve turn his arm until their hands are clasped together again. "You saved my life, babe."

Giving Danny his aw-shucks smile, Steve chuckles. "It's kinda what I do. You know, what with the special dispensation from the Governor to tackle super-powered crime on the island…"

Danny rolls his eyes and pulls Steve closer. "C'mere."

It's a chore not to accidentally drain Steve while they kiss, but it's a chore Danny would gladly do over and over again, as each kiss from Steve is full of this bottomless love and loyalty and humor that Danny thinks he'll probably never get tired of.

A whistle at the door has Steve jumping away from Danny and both of them looking toward the door. Grace is there, the rest of Five-0, including Lori, behind her. She runs into the room, calling out, "Danno!"

"Monkey!" Danny cries, leaning toward the edge of the bed and lifting Grace up onto it as soon as she gets close enough. She feels heavier than Danny remembers, until Steve starts helping lift. The emotions coming off Grace are too powerful and to mixed up for Danny to get a good read on them, but they're mostly happy, for which Danny is grateful.

He hugs his daughter close and meets Steve's eyes over her shoulder. If it wasn't for Steve, Grace would be without her father today. Overwhelmed by that thought, Danny reaches for Steve, and is rewarded by Steve's hand in his. _Love_. Danny mouths, "Thank you," and he can feel how deeply Steve understands what Danny's thanking him for.

~*~

"Yeah, so uh," Danny says, looking over at Steve, who's sitting in the other chair, facing the therapist. "We're good now."

"Real good," Steve adds, returning Danny's look and smiling at him.

"That's good to hear," Dr. Northam says, watching them for another moment before jotting something in her notes. "And are there any lingering effects from your experience with Abigail Arata, Detective Williams? Several of the other victims have noted increased forgetfulness, loss of time, confusion…"

"None of that," Danny says, wiping his hand through the air to dismiss the thought.

Steve reaches over and puts his hand on Danny's forearm. The thought he sends through that connection, along with his facial expression, has Steve feeling a rebound flustered embarrassment from Danny.

Sighing, Danny says, "Just nightmares sometimes. There was this soldier, sorry _sailor_ ," Danny corrects himself, at which Steve smiles. His training program on Danny's slips-of-the-tongue is working. "I saw Arata kill him right in front of me. It's been difficult shaking that image."

"Where do you think the difficulty comes from?" Northam asks, leaning forward.

Danny sends Steve a hesitant look, and Steve feels a mixture of emotions, though the most prominent one is annoyance. Steve's been getting acquainted with all of Danny's moods over the past month, but he has to say that annoyance is one of the most common ones. Steve has found that discovery the least surprising aspect of his ability to read Danny's emotions.

Despite his annoyance, Danny takes a breath and lets it out slowly. He's truthful when he says, "I just feel like there was more I could've done to save him, you know? Maybe the whole op would've been blown, but that kid…" Danny shakes his head.

"What do you think, Commander?" Northam asks, turning Steve's attention away from Danny. "Do you think there was anything Danny could've done differently?"

Steve shrugs. "Even if there was, what's the point? It's not going to make that sailor any less dead. All we can do is our best, and I have faith that Danny did his best."

Steve gets a wave of thankfulness and love from Danny, which he returns as best he can. Steve still isn't quite sure how this whole emotion sharing business works. He can only ever read Danny's emotions, and only while they're touching. Steve has to admit that he's a big fan of how often he and Danny have been in skin contact.

A big fan.

"Stop that," Danny says, and it takes Steve half a second to realize Danny's speaking to him.

In lieu of a verbal response, Steve just grins and goes back to that last thought. Danny pulls his hand away with an annoyed huff (and a smile that he quickly hides).

Dr. Northam has been speaking, but Steve only tunes back in when she says his name. "... Steve? I understand Lieutenant Rollins has transferred to New York. How has the transition away from a relationship with her been treating you?"

"I miss Catherine a little bit, obviously," Steve says, trying to be truthful, because Danny insists this process works better when he does tell the truth. "But honestly, I don't miss her as much as I thought I would. I guess you could say I found a better fit for me." He smiles over at Danny.

Dr. Northam looks between Steve and Danny for a moment before saying, "Ah. And has this new relationship affected your working relationship?"

"Only for the better," Danny insists. "I think we communicate a lot better than we used to."

With a snort, Steve says, "Well, communication is a lot easier when I don't have to decode your plethora of words to pull out their meaning."

Danny smirks. "So what you're saying is that you were too dumb to understand me before you could read my emotions?"

"That's not–"

"Wait a moment," Dr. Northam interrupts. "Steve, you can read Danny's emotions? Is that something you were ever capable of before?"

Shrugging, Steve shakes his head. "Nope."

"Makes for some strange feedback loops," Danny says, raising his eyebrows over at Steve.

God, Danny doesn't even have to be touching him to give Steve an idea of the thoughts running through his head. Steve hides his rapidly reddening face in his hands. "So, what do you think, Doc? Are we cleared for duty?"

Steve watches through his fingers as Dr. Northam blinks at them a few times before drawing herself up higher in her seat. "Yes, I believe so. I'm approving your work release, under the condition that Detective Williams gives me a call if his nightmares start negatively impacting the restfulness of his sleep. Sometimes a more extended schedule of talk therapy and medicine can be helpful in getting over a traumatic event, such as the one you experienced."

"Will do," Danny says with a curt nod, which tells Steve he's going to have to be the one who forces Danny to go to therapy if the nightmares don't taper off soon. 

Steve gives Dr. Northam his own nod. "Yeah, we can do that."

The doctor lets them go, and as they leave her office, Steve grabs Danny's hand, holding it in his own. "Rainbow Drive-in for lunch?"

Chuckling, Danny says, "Only if you're paying. There's no way I'm buying that heart attack they call a plate lunch with my own money." He holds up a finger with his free hand. " _And_ , we're taking your truck. The Camaro is a sacred, food-free place."

"Yeah, I know, Danno," Steve says, knocking his shoulder against Danny's and feeling more in love than he ever has in his entire life. It might have been a terrifying feeling, except for the fact that Steve can tell Danny's feeling the same way. "I know."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks again for reading! I'd love to hear what you thought of the story :)
> 
> You can find me [here](http://pterawaters.tumblr.com/) on tumblr! If you'd like to rec this fic on tumblr, please consider reblogging [this post](http://pterawaters.tumblr.com/post/133777730769/now-complete-my-time-comes-around-1111). Thank you!


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